You Can't Spell Daniel L. Cox Without 2 L's

Two embarrassing defeats for Doug Mastriano's errand boy in one day

It’s usually never a good day to be Dan Cox. But this was an especially bad one.

First, the Supreme Court turned down Cox’s request to have his election case heard before the body:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up former Maryland gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox’s (R) challenge to the timing of officials’ tabulation of mail-in ballots in his election.

Cox, who lost to Gov. Wes Moore (D), sought to reverse lower court rulings that allowed election officials to count mail-in ballots weeks before Election Day.

His challenge referenced a sweeping legal theory advanced by Republican state lawmakers in a separate election case currently before the justices that could hand state legislatures broad new powers over how federal elections are conducted.

That case remains on track for a ruling by this summer, but the justices in a brief, unsigned order on Tuesday declined to hear Cox’s case, as is typical for the thousands of requests that the Supreme Court denies each year

Later on today, the Wicomico County Council nearly unanimously rejected Cox’s appointment as Special Counsel by County Executive Julie Giordano. Cox’s appointment was first reported by us on Thursday:

The Wicomico County Council voted almost unanimously Tuesday to not move forward with the appointment of former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox as special counsel.

Four of the five councilmembers who voted against Cox are Republicans. Shanie Shields, one of the two Democrats on the seven-member board, joined her colleagues to vote against Cox, who wasn’t present during the council session and currently works as chief of staff to Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R).

Mastriano, who also lost in his bid for governor in the neighboring state, campaigned with Cox. Both were backed by former President Donald Trump.

During public comment, Shields said the majority of those spoke against Cox, a former delegate from Frederick County in the General Assembly.

At some point, Dan Cox needs to come the conclusion that the rest of us already have: that people just don’t want him around anymore.