ANNAPOLIS, Md. –
Democrat Wes Moore was elected Maryland’s first Black governor Tuesday, defeating Republican Dan Cox in a state the place Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.
Moore’s victory flips a governor’s workplace from Republican to Democratic. Of the 36 governor’s races this 12 months, Maryland and Massachusetts represented the most effective possibilities for Democrats to regain a governor’s workplace at a time when the GOP holds a 28-22 edge in governor’s seats. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is time period restricted.
Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey was elected governor of Massachusetts, making historical past because the nation’s first overtly lesbian governor.
Only two different Black politicians have ever been elected governor within the United States — Virginia’s Douglas Wilder in 1989, and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts in 2006. In Georgia, Democrat Stacey Abrams misplaced her bid to grow to be the nation’s first Black feminine governor in her rematch towards Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
With the slogan “leave no one behind,” Moore, a fight veteran and former CEO of one of many nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations, campaigned on creating equal alternative for Maryland residents.
“When I was an Army captain and led soldiers into combat in Afghanistan, we lived by a simple principle: Leave no one behind … Real patriotism means bringing people together,” Moore told a crowd gathered in downtown Baltimore during his victory speech. “It means lifting each other up and improving each other’s lives.”
Moore’s operating mate, Aruna Miller, additionally made Maryland historical past by changing into the first immigrant to win the lieutenant governor’s workplace. Miller, who immigrated from India, is also the first Asian-American elected statewide.
Moore, 44, defeated a first-term state legislator who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who solely obtained 32 per cent of the vote in Maryland within the 2020 presidential election.
During their solely debate, Moore criticized Cox for attending the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, earlier than Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Moore described Cox as “an extremist election-denier whose rhetoric and his policies are not only dangerous and divisive, but will take our state backwards.”
Kevin Holmboe, who voted for Moore in Annapolis, Maryland, cited the candidate’s resume as a former fight veteran who served in Afghanistan in addition to a Rhodes scholar with a enterprise background as {qualifications} that jumped out at him.
“He just had all the right things to lead me in that direction,” Holmboe, 60, mentioned after voting for Moore.
The race was marked by Hogan’s refusal to help Cox, whom he has described as “a QAnon whack job” unfit for workplace.
Cox organized bus journeys for protesters to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the Jan. 6 revolt on the U.S. Capitol. Cox has additionally mentioned Biden’s victory shouldn’t have been licensed and tweeted that former Vice President Mike Pence was a “traitor.” Cox later deleted the tweet and apologized.
Other candidates who ran for governor included David Lashar, of the Libertarian Party; Nancy Wallace, of the Green Party; and David Harding, of the Working Class Party.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown additionally made historical past in Maryland by changing into the state’s first Black legal professional common. Brown defeated Republican Michael Peroutka, a former Anne Arundel County Council member.
And in one other historic statewide race, Democrat Brooke Lierman defeated Republican Barry Glassman to grow to be the first girl elected Maryland comptroller, which is the state’s tax collector. The comptroller holds certainly one of three positions on the state’s highly effective Board of Public Works, together with the governor and state treasurer.