Election denier Dan Cox wins Maryland GOP governor primary

Dan Cox, a far-right election denier who attended President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and built his political brand around false claims about the 2020 election, won Maryland’s Republican primary for governor Tuesday.

Cox will face incumbent Gov. Wes Moore (D), who defeated him in a landslide in 2022. He would enter the general election as a major underdog in heavily Democratic Maryland, but his nomination gives Republicans another statewide candidate with deep ties to Trump’s election denial.

Cox has spent years spreading false claims about elections. 

He refused to accept former President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and called for a so-called “forensic audit” of Maryland’s 2020 election results, even though Trump lost the state by more than 30 points.

He also attended Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021 rally in Washington, D.C. that preceded the attacks on the U.S. Capitol. 

Cox helped arrange buses to D.C. for MAGA supporters that day and later called then-Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor” as Pence refused Trump’s demand to block certification of Biden’s win.

Cox was Trump’s endorsed candidate in Maryland’s 2022 governor race, when he defeated a more moderate Republican in the primary before losing badly to Moore in November. During that campaign, Cox’s record of election denial, anti-democratic rhetoric and ties to far-right movements made him one of the most extreme statewide nominees in the country.

If elected, Cox would have power over voting policy in a state that has expanded access to the ballot in recent years, including through mail voting and automatic voter registration. 

Maryland’s governor can sign or veto election legislation and appoint members of the State Board of Elections.

While Cox is unlikely to win in November, his nomination shows that election denial remains a central force inside the Republican Party — even in a state where those claims have already proven politically toxic with general election voters.