Wes Moore Wins a Second Term, Turning Back Dan Cox Again

Developing (election night, Nov. 3): The Associated Press has projected the winner, but the count is unofficial and still finishing. Vote shares are early figures and may change.

Gov. Wes Moore will serve a second term. The Associated Press projected Moore the winner on Tuesday night, and the result was never in much doubt: in a rematch of the 2022 race, the Democrat again turned back Republican Dan Cox, the former Frederick County delegate, by a wide margin.

At one point in the count, with just over half the expected vote reported, NBC News showed Moore at about 63 percent to Cox's 34 percent, and the state's own unofficial returns had the Moore-Miller ticket near 63 percent. Earlier in the evening his share ran higher still. The spread tracks closely with 2022, when Moore beat Cox by better than 30 points.

For Marylanders the win means continuity at the top of state government: the same governor, the same lieutenant governor in Aruna Miller, and the same broad agenda on the economy, housing and the state's relationship with a federal workforce concentrated in its Washington suburbs. It also keeps Maryland firmly in Democratic hands in a year when the party was fighting to reclaim power in Washington.

A rematch that stayed lopsided

The 2026 contest looked much like the first. Cox, who had aligned himself with the national Republican movement and lost badly four years ago, won his party's nomination again and again struggled to expand beyond his base in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans roughly two to one. A pre-election University of Maryland, Baltimore County poll in October had Moore up 51 percent to 24 percent, with a large block still undecided, and the final tally landed close to that gap.

Moore, the former nonprofit executive and author who became Maryland's first Black governor in 2023, built his reelection around the record of his first term and a warning about federal cuts hitting a state unusually dependent on government jobs and contracts. Cox campaigned against the incumbent on taxes and crime. The electorate that showed up on Tuesday, in a strong Democratic year nationally, gave Moore room to spare.

A down-ballot sweep

Moore did not run alone. Across Maryland, Democrats held their congressional seats, with Rep. Jamie Raskin among those reelected and no Republican House pickups reported in the state as of late Tuesday. And voters approved Question 3, the constitutional amendment that clears the way for Democrats to redraw the state's congressional map for 2028. A second-term governor and a friendly legislature will now sit at the center of that fight.

What Maryland Residents Should Watch

• The next budget. Moore has warned repeatedly about federal pressure on Maryland's finances and workforce. His first second-term budget will show how he plans to absorb it.
• Redistricting. With Question 3 approved, expect the governor and General Assembly to move on a new congressional map, and expect a legal challenge to follow.
• Certification. Results are unofficial until the Maryland State Board of Elections certifies them in the weeks ahead.
• The federal squeeze. How Annapolis responds to cuts and policy changes coming out of Washington will shape the suburbs that ring the District.

Sources

• Maryland Daily Record, Moore wins second gubernatorial term
• NBC Washington, Maryland election results
• Maryland State Board of Elections, unofficial 2026 results
• Ballotpedia, Wes Moore
• NBC News, Maryland Question 3 approved