How The Hell Else Did You Think This Would End?
While a Republican Red Wave sweeps most of the country, Dan Cox ushered in a bloodbath of predictable proportion
It was always going to end like this. Hell, I even wrote this the day he announced for Governor:
Dan Cox is a joke that nobody of consequence takes seriously. One prominent Annapolis Republican said about Cox’s candidacy, “Silver lining is he’ll be out of the House.” His quixotic candidacy will be little more than conspiracy theories and grievance mongering among those who are otherwise disengaged from state politics. But ultimately, Cox’s campaign will accomplish nothing other than help Maryland Democrats.
I wrote that on June 29th, 2021. Even I did not know how right I was going to be.
But I was also wrong. I assumed, incorrectly, that Republican voters would not absolutely lose their minds and choose to overwhelmingly vote for Cox in the July 19th primary. I incorrectly assumed that, after two successful gubernatorial wins in a row, Republican voters were a little more practical than voters in Michigan or Pennsylvania in nominating credible, competent candidates that could compete against Democrats.
That of course did not come to pass. Maryland was not able to ride the red wave that propelled candidates across the country. And because the voters had their tantrum and nominated an incompetent boob like Dan Cox, all of us in Maryland have to pay the consequences for it for the next four years.
The Dan Cox campaign never seemed like it was interested in winning the election. And I’m not just talking about the months and months of simple errors like spelling that make it obvious Cox did not have the competence to lead.
Cox and his campaign knew all along that outside of the hardest of hardcore Republican voters, the Cox campaign program just was not all that appealing. A reliance on Donald Trump, ignoring of basic science on COVID, a focus on “groomers” despite his own record of defending child sex predators as an attorney, and a refusal to accept the results of our elections was never going to be popular with enough independent and crossover voters to give Cox much of a chance; especially in light of the number of crossover Republicans and conservatives who were not going to support Cox, either.
Cox’s campaign also did very little to try and reach the mainstream, average Maryland swing voter. Cox and his campaign frequently shunned, ignored, and boxed out local media in Maryland. Instead of talking to the reporters and writers who could reach the voters he needed, Cox instead spent his time courting the national Trumpworld media. While those predisposed to Cox would be enamored with the fact that their candidate was on Real America’s Voice, One America News, or on freshly minted federal convict Steve Bannon’s War Room show, these shows hardly have the reach to put Cox in front of the voters he needed to be talking to.
If anything, Cox’s appearances on these shows that peddle conspiracy theories and support the attempted coup d’etat of January 6th hurt his campaign far more than it helped it.
Dan Cox and his voters get to spend the next four years realizing that they and they alone are responsible for the mountain of tax hikes, regulation, and expansion of state government that Wes Moore is going to throw at us. You should be very proud of yourselves.
Cox’s incompetent, conspiracy-laden campaign also seems to have led to down-ballot losses that could have been avoided. Early results tell us that there will be fewer Delegates, fewer State Senators, fewer County Councilmembers and other county offices elected as Republicans this year as there otherwise would have been. Cox decimated the Republican bench. Republicans and conservatives in Maryland are going to be feeling the electoral repercussions of his failed campaign for a decade or more.
It’s almost like Democrats knew that when they poured millions into his primary campaign. And yet the rubes who supported Cox thought it was a sign of strength.
Rumor has it that Cox’s next move will be to seek the leadership of the Maryland Republican Party. For the sake of our state, I would encourage Central Committee members to consider other choices. Given the incompetence of Cox’s gubernatorial campaign, a Cox chairmanship would kill the Maryland Republican Party dead forever.
All of this was avoidable. All of this could have been stopped. But Republican primary voters chose to drink the Flavoraid instead. Tonight, we all reap what they sowed.