US primaries: Dan Cox takes GOP nomination for Maryland governor, Kelly Schulz loses

Dan Cox won the Republican party’s nomination for the governor elections in November this year. The 47-year-old beat Kelly Schulz by a margin of more than 34,000 votes, concluding a proxy battle set up by outgoing governor Larry Hogan and former US President Donald Trump.

Trump had backed Dan Cox, a far-right candidate who has added fodder to the former President’s rigged election claims. Hogan, who was term-limited, had picked moderate candidate Kelly Schulz to take the governor’s office.

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Cox will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the November general election. The top Democratic candidates include former US Labor Secretary and Democratic Party chair Tom Perez, bestselling author Wes Moore and state Comptroller Peter Franchot.

Despite being a win for Trump, Cox’s victory over former Hogan Cabinet member Kelly Schulz could be a blow to Republican chances to hold on to the seat in November. Hogan, who was prohibited from running for a third consecutive term, was a rare two-term Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state, and he had endorsed Schulz as the successor to his bipartisan style of leadership.

The Republican primary was viewed as a proxy battle between Trump and Hogan, who offered vastly different visions of the party’s future as they consider 2024 campaigns for the White House. Hogan, one of Trump’s most prominent GOP critics, urged the party to move on from his divisive brand of politics, while Trump spent much of his post-presidency lifting candidates who embrace his election lies.

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Cox has said President Joe Biden’s victory shouldn’t have been certified, called former Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor” and sought unsuccessfully to impeach Hogan for his pandemic policies.

Democrats, too, saw Cox as an easier opponent in a general election, with the Democratic National Committee plowing more than $1 million behind an ad intended to boost Cox in the Republican primary.