Baltimore, Maryland: Wes Moore Wins Second Term as Governor, Defeats Dan Cox, AP Projects

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore won a second term on Tuesday night, defeating Republican challenger Dan Cox in a rematch of the 2022 race. The Associated Press called it at 8:01 p.m., one minute after polls closed at 8 p.m.

A roar went up from the standing-room-only crowd at Moore's victory party at the M&T Bank Exchange in Baltimore when the call was announced. Across town in Towson, a spokesman for Cox said the campaign does not recognize the AP call as official. "By no means are we reading too much into that," spokesman Jimmy Mathis said. Counting continues with mail and provisional ballots, and results stay unofficial until the state canvass.

Moore, 48, is Maryland's 63rd governor and its first Black governor. He has been the nation's only Black governor for the past four years. He was reelected alongside Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller. Moore took office on Jan. 18, 2023, after beating Cox by 32 points in 2022, in his first run for office.

Affordability and unfinished business

Moore campaigned Tuesday at the Laurel-Beltsville Activity Center, with the cost of living at the center of his closing message. "I think people want to make sure that we're focusing on affordability and bringing prices down," he said. "We want to make life a little bit easier on the people of Maryland." In an October interview at his South Baltimore campaign office, he said the work was not done. "The thing that I'm excited about is we have more work to do, and we just have unfinished business," Moore said.

"Being the governor of Maryland has been the honor of a lifetime," he said, "and I would not be running for reelection if I was not committed to the people of Maryland." At the only gubernatorial debate this fall, Moore did not commit to serving a full four-year term, and Cox pressed him on it. "This governor will not look you in the eyes and commit to not running for president," Cox said. Moore says he is focused on being governor, but the size of the win will keep talk of a 2028 presidential run alive.

What the second term holds

Moore starts his second term with a severe state budget gap. The biggest problem is in Baltimore, where the rebuild of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is far behind schedule and billions of dollars above its first projected cost. The bridge collapsed after a cargo ship hit it in 2024. Moore wants to keep cutting violent crime and to change a state economy long dependent on federal jobs and spending.

Cox, a former state delegate, ran on taxes, fees and the cost of electricity, and on slow progress on the bridge. "Maryland should be the Free State, not the 'fee state'," he said at a stop in Baltimore on Friday. He was outspent by Moore's campaign. President Donald Trump endorsed Cox in 2022 but stayed out of the race this year. A UMBC poll taken Sept. 22 to 27 among 776 likely voters put Cox at 24 percent.

Cox voted Tuesday morning at Sabillasville Environmental School in Frederick County. Moore voted early in Annapolis in October. Also on the ballot were Andy Ellis of the Green Party and Cathy White of the Working Class Party. In the final week, Moore campaigned in rural, largely Republican areas and put campaign money behind Question 3, a ballot measure that would change redistricting rules in a way that could help Democrats draw congressional districts.