CBS News projects that Wes Moore wins the Democratic nomination in Maryland’s governor’s race, and will take on Trump-backed Dan Cox in November, who was projected to win the Republican primary.
Moore, an author and nonprofit executive, defeated a crowded primary field that included former labor secretary and DNC chair Tom Perez and comptroller Peter Franchot. If Moore wins in November, he will be the state’s first Black governor.
Moore wasted no time in taking on Cox, who has spread the baseless claims that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and has amplified the QAnon conspiracy theory.
“Let’s be clear, this is a person who has personally organized buses of insurrectionists to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6,” Moore told The Associated Press. “Let’s be clear, this is a person who spread Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and who still to this day thinks that Donald Trump is the president. A person who fought to have it overturned. A person who traffics conspiracy theories.”
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images, Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, said last week that he would not support Cox.
“I called him a QAnon whack job,” Hogan said Thursday about Cox. “I don’t think he has any business being a nominee, and he has no chance to win the race whatsoever.”
Trump, meanwhile, posted on his social media network Truth Social calling Hogan “Lockdown Larry Hogan” and a “RINO” and said he suffered a “monumental defeat” in the primary. Hogan had backed his former labor and commerce secretary Kelly Schulz in the race.
Hogan shot back on Twitter, writing that he had ran 45 points ahead of Trump in the heavily blue state.
“Trump lost Republicans the White House, the House, and the Senate. He’s selfishly colluded with national Democrats to cost us a Governor’s seat in Maryland where I ran 45 points ahead of him,” he tweeted Wednesday. “He’s fighting for his ego. We’re fighting to win.”
Another one of Trump’s foes, Rep. Jamie Raskin, one of the House Jan. 6 committee members and who was the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s second trial, easily won his primary in Maryland’s 8th District on Tuesday night. He will face Gregory Coll, who works in the aerospace field, in the general election.
