Trump-endorsed Cox wins Maryland GOP governor primary

First-term state Del. Dan Cox was projected to win the Maryland Republican gubernatorial primary, fending off a challenge from former state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz, Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) preferred candidate.

The Associated Press called the race at 11:02 p.m. ET.

Cox touted his experience as a state delegate, small businessman and constitutional attorney. The Trump endorsee also previously made a bid for the state’s 8th Congressional District in 2016 but lost to then-state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D).

Schulz, meanwhile, touted her experience working under Hogan as both a former commerce secretary and labor secretary in addition to her experience serving in the Maryland House of Delegates.

The former Hogan administration official’s campaign platform included backing law enforcement, supporting parents’ involvement in education curriculum and fighting efforts to raise taxes. Cox’s platform mirrored some of Schulz’s, but it also included his anti-abortion stance, supporting Second Amendment rights and fighting gerrymandering, among others.

Cox has said that former Vice President Mike Pence is a “traitor” and organized buses to travel to former President Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, 2021, according to The Washington Post. Hogan, who is term-limited, has called Cox a “QAnon conspiracy theorist.”

The Republican gubernatorial primary was considered a proxy war between Trump and Hogan and seen as a test of whether more establishment Republicans can succeed against Trump-endorsed and more hard-line members of the party.

A Goucher College poll from late June found that 25 percent of likely Republican voters would back Cox, while 22 percent would back Schulz, though the poll came within the margin of error, effectively tying the two among voters.