Not all the votes are counted and not all the races are decided, but with over 93% of the vote it鈥檚 safe to say Maryland Gov. Wes Moore easily trounced the one Democratic challenger he had.
While that鈥檚 one sign of strength, the governor鈥檚 campaign also touted another 93%+ win rate. The campaign said that鈥檚 how many of the roughly 200 or so candidates endorsed by Moore around the state also either won, or are winning.
Some of the candidates he endorsed were easy winners too, but others, such as Adrian Boafo and April McClain Delaney, were in tough and expensive congressional primaries. County executive candidates Will Jawando in Montgomery County and Julian Jones in Baltimore County also held leads in competitive primaries.
鈥淚t really shows that, despite having an approval rating hovering right around 50%, he’s got some sway over Maryland Democrats,鈥� said St. Mary鈥檚 College political science professor Todd Eberly. 鈥淚鈥檝e got to think that the Moore team comes out of last night feeling pretty good.鈥�
During Moore鈥檚 first term, there were moments when lawmakers in Annapolis were willing to push back on the governor. They overrode vetoes and would occasionally defy the governor鈥檚 preferred course of legislative action. Eberly said lawmakers might be a bit more collaborative with the governor during a second term.
鈥淢aybe there’s a little bit of rethinking how popular Wes Moore is, the influence that he has, and whether or not you necessarily want to break with him,鈥� Eberly said. 鈥淗e easily secured renomination. He demonstrated his influence among the electorate, demonstrated that withholding his endorsement can actually have an impact on an even very powerful member of the General Assembly.鈥�
Eberly was referring to Senate President Bill Ferguson, who won his race, but not by the margin you鈥檇 think he would against a candidate who was relatively unknown and lacked political experience. Moore notably did not endorse Ferguson after the two clashed over redistricting earlier this year.
鈥淪omeone like Ferguson should not have faced any real challenge at all,鈥� Eberly said. 鈥淭his was primary voters angry with Ferguson over breaking with Gov. Moore over redistricting. Ferguson did what he thought was right, what he thought was the sort of principled decision, and primary voters sort of sent him a message here by giving 44% of the vote to a not really well-known or well-financed challenger.鈥�
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