Marylanders took to the polls Tuesday night to nominate candidates to succeed outgoing term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
Dan Cox โ who is a very different type of Republican than Hogan โ won the GOP nomination over Kelly Schulz, who was backed by Hogan after having served in his administration. (RELATED: What to Expect From This Month's Sole Primary Tonight)
This year's Republican nominee got significant boosts from two sources that on paper would never back the same candidate. One was former President Donald Trump. The other was the Democratic Governors Association's PAC, DGA Action.
As reported by the New York Post:
Earlier this month, the DGA began running a series of advertisementsย labeling Cox โtoo close to Trumpโ and โtoo conservativeโย for Maryland.
When considering their timing, the purpose of these apparent attacks isn't to drive independent voters away from Cox โ but to make him more appealing to likely primary voters.
As of July 13, the Democratic group had spent more than $821,000 on television and digital advertising, according to theย Wall Street Journal, which cited data from tracking firm AdImpact. The DGA also set aside another $354,000 for advertising through Tuesday's primary election โ for a grand total of $1,175,000.
By pushing his more controversial views, Democrats hoped to drive Republican Party activists to Cox, even though conventional wisdom dictates he's far more likely to lose in a statewide race where Democrats enjoy a 2-to-1 voter registration advantage. (RELATED: Maryland Assault Weapons Ban Faces Supreme Court Showdown)
Of course, conventional wisdom has been wrong before.
Democrats messing about in Republican primaries is not new, but their recent meddling is an undeniable escalation that has enjoyed some success. Despite Democrats throwing millions at two potentially problematic candidates in Colorado who lost their statewide primaries, they did successfully intervene on behalf of state Senator Darren Bailey in Illinois โ who soundly defeated the initial frontrunner, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. (RELATED: Kinzinger Announces Retirement While Hinting at Political Comeback)
Open Secrets broke down the unprecedented influx of cash:
In Illinois, Democratic incumbent Gov.ย J.B. Pritzkerย andย theย Democratic Governors Associationย droppedย $35 millionย on ads attempting to influence Illinois' Republican gubernatorial primary โย moreย than any office is believed to have ever spent to meddle in another party's primary โ putting Illinois' gubernatorial race on track to be theย most expensiveย non-presidential election in United States history.ย
Ads purchased by Pritzker alliesย attackedย the more moderate Aurora Mayorย Richard Irvinย in the Republican primary andย drew attentionย to the more far-right candidate, state Sen.ย Darren Bailey. Pritzker's ad buy for the primaries was more thanย tripleย what Bailey had raised for his own campaign.
The campaign spending disparity was even more remarkable in Maryland, where Cox only spent $21,000 on his campaign.
On the Democratic side, the primary results remain too close to call. However, nonprofit CEO and bestselling author Wes Moore appears likely to have prevailed over Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez.
Maryland law does not permit mail-in ballots from being opened until the Thursday after the election, so that batch of ballot counting didn't start until today. Mail-in ballots can also be received up to 10 days after an election, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
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2 Comments
To rerun 2020??
Trump endorsed Dan Cox, saying that he would save Maryland from the “stench” of Larry Hogan. Larry Hogan has a far higher approval rating in Maryland than Donald Trump does. Referring to Gov. Hogan as a “stench” is a great way to ensure that the next Governor of Maryland will be a Democrat.
Personally I am probably closer to the views of Dan Cox than Kelly Schulz. However, she was a very able and attractive candidate who stood a decent chance at getting elected whereas it will take a miracle for Dan Cox to win.
What would be so hard for Trump about observing Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment? Reagan understood the importance of getting to 51% in an election. Trump does not.
Reagan was re-elected with the votes of 49 states. Trump lost because he could not bring himself to act like a President, even though his policies had been extremely effective. With just a modicum of self-control, Trump would have been reelected and we would have low gas prices and a strong economy. And most importantly, Putin would not have dared to invade Ukraine.
Now you have a third or more of a beautiful, peaceful country in ruins and at least 100,000 men, women and children dead, all because Pres. Trump was too focused on his ego to win over about 80,000 voters in just three states who could have ensured his re-election even despite a certain amount of Democrat cheating in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Phoenix and perhaps Milwaukee and Detroit.