Dan Cox, the Republican nominee who lost to the 2022 gubernatorial election to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, has filed to run for governor again this year.
The former Maryland delegate’s candidacy was posted on the Maryland elections board website Friday, and he listed Rob Krop as his running mate for lieutenant governor.
Krop, the owner of The Machine Gun Nest, was most recently a client of Cox’s, who successfully represented Krop against federal charges that he conspired with Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins to illegally acquire machine guns. The Cox campaign said it has reserved a website that it hopes to have operating soon.
President Donald Trump endorsed Cox during his first run for governor. Cox is a father of 10 and served in the Maryland House of Delegates between 2019 and 2023, representing Carroll and Frederick counties, according to his House of Delegates biography.
Cox, a lawyer, was a first-term state delegate when he first ran against Moore. He advocated conservative positions following Trump’s Make America Great platform, speaking out against “critical race theory” and “gender identity indoctrination” in schools and against the COVID-19 lockdown measures, which did little to win over Maryland’s deep blue electorate.
Cox lost his 2022 election bid to Moore by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
Cox’s filing on Friday comes just 10 days after two-term former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, announced that he would not seek his old job and was done with running for elected office. Hogan was widely seen as the best hope for Republicans to challenge Moore.
Cox’s entry into the race also expands an already crowded Republican field in the governor’s race, which is likely to get more crowded yet.
Besides the three Republicans who were already in the race, Baltimore businessman and Baltimore Blast soccer team owner Ed Hale Sr., a deep-pocketed, longtime Democratic donor, recently switched party affiliation from Democrat to Republican to mount a bid for governor. He has not yet filed the paperwork to run, however. Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) also formed an exploratory committee last year, but it is looking increasingly unlikely that he will enter the race.
In addition to the Republicans, Democrat Ralph Jaffe has filed to challenge Moore in the primary and Green Party candidate Andy Ellis has filed to run in the general election. Moore has not yet filed, but candidates have until 9 p.m. on Feb. 24 to file for the June primary.
On Saturday, Maryland Democratic Party Chair Steuart Pittman said in a statement that Cox’s entry into the race “and his likely nomination by the Republican Party, creates a historic opportunity for Maryland Democrats to expand our base of support everywhere.”
“Cox demonstrated his blind allegiance to Donald Trump when he bused insurrectionists to Washington on January 6, 2021,” Pittman’s statement said. “He will serve as a reminder to Marylanders what Donald Trump has done for us: his economic assault on farmers, blue collar workers, small businesses, and public servants; his disdain for the rule of law; his disrespect for our veterans; and his lack of fiscal discipline.”
