Cox won the GOP race to replace Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, with a limited term. It is still unclear which Democrat he will face; author Wes Moore and former Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez were the main voters as ballots were counted Tuesday night.
The primary was a power struggle between former President Donald Trump, who supported Cox, and Hogan, who endorsed his former secretary of commerce, Kelly Schulz.
That Hogan had won two seats in Maryland was a feat: Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state, two to one; the state has not supported a GOP presidential candidate since 1988. But Hogan is seen as one of the most moderate GOP figures.
Cox has fueled fears about election fraud. He said in December 2020 on Facebook that Trump should seize the voting machines. He rented three buses for the Trump rally on January 6, 2021 in Washington. And he tweeted amid the insurrection: “Pence is a traitor.”
He has also threatened a lawsuit for ballots by mail.
Democrats believe Cox poses a much easier general election confrontation than Schultz. The Democratic Governors Association spent more than $ 1 million on television commercials highlighting Trump’s endorsement and Cox’s more conservative positions, a tactic aimed at increasing Republican support for Cox but diminishing his position among the moderates in the run-up to the November general election.
These points highlighted his opposition to gun restrictions and abortion rights and Trump’s endorsement. One calls Cox “too close to Trump, too conservative for Maryland.”
Schultz, at a news conference with Hogan last month, said Democrats are trying to “spend a million now and save $ 5 million by not having to face the general election.”
Cox’s victory came when election officials had begun what could be a few-week ballot count process, with races to decide who will test Democratic voters’ views on party establishment and will. of Republicans to adhere to what has been a winning formula for the GOP in the deep blue state.
The polls closed at 8pm ET and county officials were prohibited from starting processing the record number of ballots by mail for a primary election until the in-person vote concluded.
The Maryland primary ballot tent contest on Tuesday was the governor’s run. Hogan, who is among the most moderate figures in his party and has often criticized Trump, has no term limits to seek re-election.
His departure has turned primaries into the governor’s career, one that takes place in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by about two to one, but where the GOP has held the governor’s office for 12 of the last 20 years, in a window to the major battles taking place on both sides on the national stage.
Democrats saw an open showdown with 10 candidates, a field that included Perez, Moore backed by Oprah Winfrey, state auditor Peter Franchot, former U.S. Secretary of Education John King and Doug Gansler, the former Maryland Attorney General. and failed 2014 gubernatorial candidate.
The governor’s career primaries are the most-followed contests on Tuesday’s list in Maryland, where elections were delayed three weeks due to a dispute over state legislative maps.
Election results could take days or even weeks to complete. According to the Maryland Board of Elections, more than 508,000 people applied for ballots by mail, breaking previous primary records. Counties can’t start counting those ballots until Thursday, and election officials say some counties could still be counting the ballots by mail in the first week of August.
Government primaries
Several gubernatorial candidates would make history in a state that has only elected white men as chief executive.
Pérez, the former president of the DNC, highlighted his national experience and his local roots. He is a former Montgomery County councilor and was Maryland’s secretary of labor before joining former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department as deputy attorney general for civil rights and later secretary of state for labor. United States.
A Perez ad used Obama’s previous comments about Perez, with the former president calling Perez “tireless” and “smart villain.”
Moore, meanwhile, aired a voice-over ad for Winfrey, in which the TV star calls Moore a friend and reviews his resume. Winfrey calls Moore “the kind of transformative leader these times demand.”
On a hot election day in Maryland, voters turned out at their polling stations. Portia Thompson, who has said she has been voting since 1974, voted for Pérez at the community center and Colmar Manor City Hall.
“I think he would represent everyone. African Americans, Latinos, everyone. He also worked in President Obama’s administration, so I thought he had the experience,” Thompson said of Perez.
Down the ballot
The outcome of another major race was also clear Tuesday night: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen easily avoided a Democratic primary challenge on Tuesday, according to a CNN projection.
Van Hollen, who suffered a minor stroke in May, defeated a major challenge by Michelle Smith, a policy analyst for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Freedom of Information Act. Ten Republicans are struggling to take the winner of those primaries, but Van Hollen is heavily favored to win a second term.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who is the second member of the House, also won his primaries, CNN projected.
CNN projected that Rep. Anthony Brown will win the Democratic primary in Maryland’s attorney general’s career.
Brown, the lieutenant governor under former Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is stepping down in the U.S. House after three terms, defeated O’Malley’s wife, Katie Curran O’Malley, a former Baltimore City District Court Judge.
The primaries in the attorney general’s career are effectively general elections in a state that has not chosen a Republican for office in more than 100 years. (A Republican, Edward Rollins, was appointed to office in 1952.)
Brown, a former military attorney trained at Harvard, would become the first black person to serve as Maryland’s attorney general. He had the support of VoteVets, which supports Democratic candidates with military experience. The group aired television commercials criticizing O’Malley for his accusation that Brown “does not have the proper experience for this job.”
One of the eight seats in the Maryland Congress opens this fall: the very Democratic 4th District seat, currently occupied by Brown, features former Rep. Donna Edwards before former Prince George’s County Attorney Glenn Ivey in the Democratic primaries.
Edwards has high-profile supporters, such as Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Ivey is being bolstered by announcements attacking Edwards of the super PAC affiliated with the U.S. Israeli Public Affairs Committee.
Thompson said he decided to vote for Glenn Ivey in the 4th District race because he believes he is a “great gentleman.”
“I don’t really have a negative opinion of Donna Edwards, but I like Glenn Ivey and his family. I like his wife. She comes and sits on your porch and talks to you,” he said.
Marcela Orellano, 38, was at the East County Community Recreation Center in Silver Spring at 9:30 a.m. because she is “terrified of the presidential election.” Although she said there is no specific candidate she is very enthusiastic about in Maryland primaries, she wants to see a change and is concerned about gun laws, women’s rights and immigration policies.
“I want to make sure I make a difference at least at the state level. I’m looking for Democrats to fight for the things that are important to me,” Orellano said.
Sharda Ramdat, a 46-year-old mother, said armed violence and abortion rights are her top priorities.
“I’m worried about my kids every day, and I feel like there’s no place where you can have a moment of your own space. That’s very important. I want a change, especially with gun laws,” he said.
Ramdat said she was excited about Moore and believes he is the best because “he had a hard life growing up” and “would understand where the middle class and poor people come from.”
Robin Jones, 68, said affordable housing is one of her top priorities and is more focused on local issues affecting her community.
“I went to work for the phone company when I was 17 and I could afford an apartment that earned me $ 125 a week. Now an apartment is the same amount as a mortgage and there’s no place to live,” Jones said.