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Former Maryland state Del. Dan Cox (R) is set to face Gov. Wes Moore in a rematch for the governor’s mansion in Maryland this November, Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) projected.
Cox won 45.2 percent of the Republican gubernatorial primary vote over businessman Ed Hale Sr. in second place and retired Air Force veteran John Myrick in third.
Cox also won several of the state’s counties, though Hale won several counties along the border with Pennsylvania, including Baltimore County. Hale, a lifelong Democrat who registered as a Republican to run in the primar, led the pack of candidates in fundraising.
The Republican nominee told the Baltimore Banner early Wednesday morning that Moore “can’t get away with blaming the federal government” for “what he’s not done for Maryland.”
“This isn’t a federal race,” he said. “I know Wes Moore would like to blame the feds constantly. But the fact of the matter is Wes Moore controls the governor’s office. Wes Moore has a super majority in the legislature, and Wes Moore is doing nothing about his problems right here in this state.”
Cox was previously endorsed by President Trump while he was the GOP nominee against Moore in the 2022 gubernatorial election. He was a prominent 2020 election denier, having helped organize buses for rioters headed to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Moore won in 2022, becoming Maryland’s first Black governor.
On Tuesday, the governor handily won his party’s nomination against his lone primary challenger, physician Ed Felber, after he received 87.8 percent of the vote and won every county in the state, according to DDHQ.
Moore said in a campaign statement after his primary victory that Maryland has “the opportunity to push back against Washington and the reckless policies that have made everything from gas to groceries more expensive for hard-working people.”
“We must keep growing our economy, driving down crime, and investing in our public schools, because the past several years have shown us what happens when we work together to do just that,” Moore said. “There is more work to do, but what we’ve done together is just the beginning of what it looks like to build a Maryland that leaves no one behind.”
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