Former president Donald Trump on Monday endorsed Del. Daniel L. Cox’s bid for the Republican nomination to be governor of Maryland, describing him as a “tough lawyer and smart businessman” who “fought against the Rigged Presidential Election every step of the way.”
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The endorsement instantly transformed Maryland’s primary into a high-profile tug of war between two starkly different visions of the Republican Party: one embraced by both Cox and Trump, the other favored by outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and his handpicked candidate, Kelly Schulz.
While the endorsement may not change the outcome in Republican primary, it spells a divisive and potentially costly battle pitting the Hogan wing of the party against the Trump wing.
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“It means money,” said Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “Whether it ultimately changes his chances of winning, it gives him the money that will sustain him in a contested race. And that’s what Schulz absolutely wanted to avoid.”
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Cox did not return a call seeking comment.
In the announcement, Trump mentions Schulz by name — although he misspells it — and takes a swipe at Hogan, a frequent critic of Trump’s presidency.
“Unlike his opponent, Kelly Schultz, was “handpicked by her ‘boss,’ RINO Larry Hogan, who has been terrible for our Country and is against the America First Movement,” the endorsement reads.
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Hogan responded to Trump’s endorsement with a swipe of his own, noting that Trump lost to now-President Joe Biden by wide margins in Maryland.
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“Personally, I’d prefer endorsements from people who didn’t lose Maryland by 33 points,” he said on Twitter.
Dirk Haire, the head of the state Republican Party, noted that polls consistently show that Republicans in Maryland are supportive of both Trump as president and Hogan as governor. A 2019 Gonzales Research & Media Services poll found that while Hogan was as popular as Trump among Republican voters, if Hogan at the time mounted a primary challenge against Trump, Republican voters in Maryland would have backed Trump by a 2-to-1 margin.
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“I don’t know that it does have much effect on the primary,” Haire said, noting that the race will come down to how effective Schulz, Cox and Robin Ficker are in laying out their vision for the state.
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Mike Demkiw, a spokesman for Schulz’s campaign said Schulz is “the only Republican who can win this race” and that she proudly “stood next to Gov. Hogan over the last 8 years as they fought to make Maryland a better, safer, and more affordable place to live and raise a family.”
In addition to fighting against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, Cox sued Hogan to challenge his stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic and represented a Harford County man who sued local officials for arresting him at a polling place for not wearing a mask.
He also called Vice President Mike Pence “a traitor” on Twitter for not overturning the results of the election, as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Hogan has called Cox a “QAnon conspiracy theorist,” a reference to the extremist ideology that has radicalized its followers.
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Eberly said Republicans need a unified primary to be successful in securing a third term leading Maryland.
“The party has to be unified and Democrats have to be wiling to vote for a Republican,” he said “Any race that divides the GOP, hurts both of those things.”
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