Republican Dan Cox has filed to run for governor of Maryland again, setting up a potential rematch with Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who beat the MAGA-aligned Cox in a landslide four years ago.
A former state delegate, Cox has been vying for statewide or congressional office for a decade, with no luck in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1.
Cox’s candidacy was posted on the Maryland elections board website Friday and listed Rob Krop as his running mate. Cox did not respond to a request for comment Saturday morning.
He first ran for governor in 2022, earning the endorsement of President Donald Trump and catapulting the Republican primary into a high-profile tug of war between two starkly different visions of the GOP: one embraced by Cox and Trump, underpinned by claims of election fraud; the other favored by then outgoing-Gov. Larry Hogan (R), buoyed by cross-party coalitions.
News of Cox’s second attempt for the governor’s office ricocheted across the state, with Democratic operatives quick to tie him to the president while some Republicans nudged a more moderate potential candidate to consider a run as the GOP struggles to find its footing in Maryland in a post-Hogan landscape.
Hogan — who has previously disavowed Cox as a “whack job” unworthy of endorsement — recently said he would not run for his old job, capping months of speculation.
During his 2022 campaign, Cox won the Republican nomination after the Democratic Governors Association pumped more than $2 million into political ads and mailers promoting his ties to Trump, with the hope that his extreme positions would put off independent voters in the general election. Cox, for example, has said he believes the 2020 election was “stolen,” and unsuccessfully sued and tried to impeach Hogan over restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the general election, Cox lost resoundingly to Moore, an author and then a political outsider who won more than 64 percent of the vote. Despite a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and resort, Cox’s campaign never raised more than a tenth of Moore’s resources.
Moore’s reelection campaign declined to comment Saturday.
“At a time when Donald Trump is attacking the state every day, Marylanders need a governor who will fight for them — not a Donald Trump clone,” Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said in a statement.
The sentiment was echoed by Maryland Democratic Party Chair Steuart Pittman, who in a statement said Cox serves “as a reminder to Marylanders what Donald Trump has done for us: his economic assault on farmers, blue collar workers, small businesses, and public servants; his disdain for the rule of law; his disrespect for our veterans; and his lack of fiscal discipline.”
His candidacy, Pittman added, “creates a historic opportunity for Maryland Democrats to expand our base of support everywhere.”
After dabbling in local politics, Cox’s first attempt for higher office came in 2016 when he won the Republican primary to fill Maryland’s 8th Congressional District seat but lost in the general to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D). Cox was later elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Frederick County from 2019 to 2023.
In 2024, Cox threw his hat into the Republican primary for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. He struggled to build a coalition of voters without the infusion of outside cash he benefited from in the governor’s race two years earlier. He lost to former state delegate Neil Parrott.
With Friday’s filing, Cox now joins a Republican field for governor that includes Baltimore businessman and sports team owner Ed Hale Sr., a longtime Democrat and self-described moderate who recently swapped his party affiliation.
State Senate Minority Leader Steve S. Hershey Jr. is also considering getting into the governor’s race. A more moderate Republican with a long record serving in party leadership in the General Assembly, Hershey launched an exploratory committee in the fall.
Hershey said he received calls and texts encouraging him to run Saturday as the news of Cox’s campaign spread. But Hershey told The Washington Post in a text that Cox’s decision would not change his calculus.
“I’m not going to make this decision based on who enters a primary or pressure to represent the party,” he said. “The driving factor for me is whether I truly believe I can make a meaningful difference for Maryland at this moment.”
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