ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen won the Democratic nomination for a second term on Tuesday, while both parties closely watched the highly competitive primaries to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
The big-name endorsements in Maryland’s governor’s race illustrate the high stakes for both parties. Democrats see the contest as one of their best chances nationwide to flip a governor’s mansion in this year’s midterm elections, while Republicans want to cement the party’s hold on the office. Ten candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Perez has support from labor unions, while Moore, the former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty organization, has been endorsed by the state’s teachers union and the two top Maryland legislative leaders, House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson.
Other voters said they preferred a long resume of government service. Curtis Fatig, a 67-year-old voter in Annapolis, settled on Perez, who also worked on the Montgomery County Council, as Maryland’s secretary of labor and as the assistant attorney general for civil rights in Obama’s administration.At an elementary school in Silver Spring, many Democrats cast a ballot for governor with an eye toward November’s general election.
Hogan has criticized Cox for organizing busloads of Trump supporters to go to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, for the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Cox has said he didn’t go to the Capitol and left before the rioting began.