Democrat Wes Moore is projected to be Marylands first Black governor after defeating Dan Cox, a Republican state delegate closely aligned with former President Donald Trump .

Moores victory had long been assumed at least since Cox triumphed in the GOP primary over Kelly Schulz, who served in the Cabinet of popular outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and had his endorsement. Coxs brand of far-right politics, including support for Trumps lies about the 2020 election and support for banning abortion , were never going to fly in heavily blue Maryland.

Moore, an author and former bank and nonprofit executive, won the Democratic nod by defeating state Comptroller Peter Franchot and former Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez in a June primary.

As an Afghanistan War veteran and a Rhodes scholar, Moore has the kind of resume likely to generate chatter that hes the future of the Democratic Party . But he faced criticism during the campaign for exaggerating his ties to Baltimore City while promoting his book The Other Wes Moore, and for failing to correct interviewers who suggested he had won a Bronze Star.

Moore has staked himself as part of the center-left, pointing to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) as two of his political role models. Democrats have substantial majorities in both of Marylands legislative chambers, so Moores victory returns to the state to a Democratic trifecta after eight years of Hogan.

Maryland has one of the highest Black populations in the country roughly a third of its population is Black, a percentage topped by only Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia and the past three lieutenant governors of the state were all Black. But as in the vast majority of U.S. states, Maryland voters have never before elected a Black governor: Moore is only the third Black person to be elected governor of a state in the countrys history.