Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) defeated Republican challenger Dan Cox’s effort to unseat him, maintaining Democrats’ hold on the blue state of Maryland.
The matchup was a rematch from 2022, which ended the same way. The Associated Press called the race at 8:01 p.m. The result was unsurprising to most analysts, given the state’s increasingly blue tilt, driven by large blue bastions such as Baltimore and Annapolis.
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Four years ago, Moore, who had never held elected office previously, beat Cox by 32 points, becoming the state’s first black governor. Most polls had Moore winning by a similar margin this time around.
In a UMBC poll, taken between Sept. 22 and 27, surveying 776 likely voters, Cox had just 24% of the vote.
President Donald Trump endorsed Cox in 2022, but stayed out of the race this time around, aware of his unpopularity in Maryland. This failed to make much of a difference, however.
Cox ran on a message of affordability, electricity prices, business closures, and disgruntlement over tax increases, but was undermined by the perception of Republicans being behind the affordability woes nationally, given their trifecta control of the government.
Moore’s favorability has cooled somewhat in recent months, but he remains well above water. Cox had little hope of unseating the governor, who enjoys the support of a majority of Marylanders.
Moore’s win by such a significant margin will only feed into talks of a possible 2028 presidential run. Though he has repeatedly claimed he has no plans to run, analysts are nearly unanimous in portraying him as a top contender, given his popularity, charisma, and young age relative to most contenders.