National political pundits have described Maryland’s gubernatorial election, in which Republican Larry Hogan defeated Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, as a “nuclear explosion.” Conventional political wisdom indicated a GOP spark was not possible in blue-state Maryland, much less an explosion. What set it off?

Before launching a formal campaign bid, Hogan set up what amounted to an exploratory committee. Instead of following the typical campaign script of announcing a possible run and then gauging the reaction among donors, the media and potential supporters, Hogan launched Change Maryland two years ago, attracting over 125,000 social media followers.