ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Best-selling author Wes Moore won Maryland’s Democratic primary for governor on Friday, setting up a general election against Republican Dan Cox, a staunch conservative backed by former President Donald Trump.
Moore, the author of the book “The Other Wes Moore” and former CEO of an anti-poverty nonprofit, defeated a long list of other high-profile Democrats, including Tom Peres, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and former Democratic National Committee chairman and Peter Franchot, longtime state comptroller.
Moore will be the strong favorite in the November election against Cox, a right-wing member of the Maryland House of Delegates whose extreme politics are considered a problem in a heavily Democratic state that twice elected centrist Republican Larry Hogan as governor. Moore would be the state’s first black governor if elected.
A political novice, Moore was supported in his campaign by Oprah Winfrey, who organized a virtual fundraiser for him. He also had the support of U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House.
Cox was declared the winner of Tuesday night’s GOP primary. The Democratic primary for Moore took until Friday to be called because the margins were narrower and more mail-in ballots were cast in the race. Maryland law prohibits counties from opening mail-in ballots until the Thursday after Election Day.
Cox, a Trump aide and supporter of right-wing causes, promoted Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election, organized buses to Washington for the “Stop Theft” rally on January 6, 2021, and tweeted during the riot at the US Capitol, that then-Vice President Mike Pence was a “traitor.”
Democrats see Moore as a strong candidate with a compelling personal story.
He was raised by a single mother after his father died when Moore was 3. Moore graduated from Valley Forge Military College and Johns Hopkins University and won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University.
He later served as a captain and paratrooper in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Regiment and saw combat in Afghanistan.
He started and eventually sold a small business called BridgeEdU, which, according to its website, “reinvents the first year of college for underserved students to increase their likelihood of long-term success.” During his four years as CEO of the anti-poverty nonprofit Robin Hood, the organization distributed more than $600 million to help poor families.
Moore has written a number of books, including The Other Wes Moore, a memoir that juxtaposes his life with that of another man with the same name and similar background who ended up serving a life sentence for murder.
The decision by GOP voters to nominate Cox dashed the hopes of Hogan and other Republicans that the party could retain the governor’s mansion in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. Hogan was able to attract bipartisan support with his moderate policies and his willingness to criticize Trump when he felt it was warranted — a significant act in a party that expects its members to stick by their leader.
Hogan, who was barred from seeking a third straight term, endorsed his former cabinet member Kelly Schultz in the four-way GOP primary. Hogan was unabashed in his distaste for Cox, branding him a “freak” and a “QAnon fraud.” Cox sued Hogan’s stay-at-home orders and regulations at the start of the pandemic and introduced a resolution to impeach Hogan for what Cox called “misuse of office.”
Hogan will not vote for him in November, his spokesman said Wednesday.
Trump gloated over Cox’s success over Schultz on Tuesday night, writing in a statement: “RINO Larry Hogan’s endorsement doesn’t seem to be working out so well for his heavily favored candidate.”
Hogan fired back on Wednesday, tweeting that “Trump has lost Republicans in the White House, House and Senate.” He said Trump “is going to cost us the governor’s seat in Maryland, where I was 45 points ahead of him.”
“He’s fighting for his ego,” Hogan said. “We fight to win and the fight goes on.”
Jim Dornan, a Republican political strategist with experience in Maryland politics, described Cox’s primary victory as a “disaster” for GOP candidates relying on a strong gubernatorial candidate to get voters to the polls. He said any satisfaction Trump would get from defeating Hogan’s nominee would be short-lived because Republicans now likely will lose the general election.
“I guess you could put it this way: Trump won the battle and Hogan is out to win the war,” said Dornan, who managed Republican Ellen Sauerbrey’s 1998 gubernatorial campaign and chaired the former GOP chairman’s exploratory committee. Michael Steele for governor last year before deciding not to bid.
Still, the fact that Hogan’s chosen successor lost to a Trump-backed challenger is an ominous sign for any national political ambitions Hogan may have, said Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Mary’s College in Maryland. Hogan, like Trump, is considering a 2024 Republican presidential bid.
“I think the stark reality will be, if that’s the case in a state that you’ve represented for the last eight years, a state that re-elected you, it’s going to be a lot harder for you to be successful when you move outside of that state seeking a national nomination,” Eberly said.
Democrats have long viewed Cox as the weaker candidate in the general election. The Democratic Governors Association went so far as to spend more than $1 million to air an ad designed to help Cox in the Republican primary by touting his support for Trump and his conservative bona fides.
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat who has had many disagreements with Hogan in recent years, said he and Hogan could sit down and discuss their differences and negotiate. Marylanders, he said, are not well represented by the winner of Tuesday’s GOP primary for governor.
“While it may be politically advantageous for Democrats to do so, I worry about what it means for someone who has such extreme views to have a platform for the next four months,” Ferguson said.
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