While Gov. Wes Moore gallivants across the nation in bold pursuit of a political horizon, Marylanders sweat in their own homes during a heat wave because our state’s energy grid is unsustainable. Families across the state are having difficult conversations about whether they should uproot their families, leave their friends and relocate to another state. More residents dread the trip to the mailbox, expecting ever-escalating energy bills, punishing vehicle registration fees and higher property tax notices — all while the governor expends every ounce of his political capital chasing a national platform.
These realities are no longer anecdotal. CNBC published an analysis of every state in the country and found Maryland critically lacking in the area that matters most to residents: the economy. According to the report, Maryland has the second-worst economy in the entire United States and ranks woefully low in the cost of doing business and the overall cost of living. Maryland’s education edge continues to slide, with neighbors including Virginia and North Carolina outranking us and luring residents and revenue away from our great state.
The CNBC analysis has merely validated what many of us have known for years. Moore is the weakest, most ineffective governor Maryland has ever had, and residents are paying the price. Even as economists and pundits warned about Maryland’s impending crisis, the governor’s leadership has been defined by insufferable complaining about Preisdnet Donald Trump and a complete lack of executive vision for our state. What little political influence he possesses was used to try (and fail) to twist Senate President Bill Ferguson’s arm into supporting a politically motivated and unpopular gerrymandering effort during the last General Assembly session. By and large, the General Assembly mocks his policy proposals and ignores his leadership. He has no power in Maryland because he has no interest in Maryland.
Moore had the opportunity to leverage his military experience to bring discipline and rigor to Maryland’s executive leadership. Instead, Marylanders have suffered a string of humiliating legislative audits and untimely resignations from inadequately vetted secretaries. He could have charted a course away from our economically catastrophic dependence on the federal government, a risk analysts have warned about for years. Instead, he simply fired the credit rating agency that highlighted the danger. Moore’s administration will go down in history as a story of missed opportunities for Maryland and the Machiavellian ambition of a man blessed by fortunate proximity to powerful political influence.
The Maryland Republican Party finds itself at fourth-and-long on its own 20-yard line with a bit of time left in the fourth quarter. The party nominated Dan Cox to challenge Moore in the general election in November. Independents and moderates alike are furious at the circumstance, given that Cox was the face of the worst defeat Maryland Republicans have suffered in modern history.
Politically, the rational stance is to punt and hope for another opportunity in 2030. Aligning with Cox is political suicide for anyone who wants a future in Maryland politics. His proximity to Trump automatically alienates a significant portion of Maryland voters. In the last election cycle, he affirmed those concerns by prioritizing Trump-related interests over the state of Maryland. The significant defeat left the Maryland Republican Party shattered, and the fallout remains.
Today, we face a different question: Can Maryland survive another four years of executive neglect? The damage from Moore’s neglect has already dragged our state near the bottom on so many measurable factors. Multiple year-over-year billion-dollar budget deficits have shattered family budgets with punishing taxes and fees. Businesses and valuable revenue continue to flee. Our neighbors bolster their budgets with our revenue while Maryland residents shoulder the rising costs of government. When Moore finally abandons the pretense and focuses in earnest on his presidential ambitions, the damage to Maryland will be incalculable and likely irreparable. The CNBC report, highlighting Maryland as having the second-worst economy in the country, shifts the discussion dramatically. We have to ask ourselves: Will we even recognize the state of Maryland in 2030?
Rallying the independent and moderate Republican base behind Cox to try to push him across the finish line goes beyond a gutsy call. It requires abandoning all sense of political insight. It is imagining the endless mockery one will be met with for believing that a Trump-aligned candidate who already lost by more than 30 points could defeat the most perfect and well-funded political charlatan in modern times. It demands nothing short of a wild and reckless hope rooted in nothing more than a belief that Maryland residents will defy every political trend and rise to protect our beautiful state from the destructive consequences of Moore’s neglect. It is an earnest prayer that the version of Cox we have seen in recent weeks is one that will stay focused on connecting with all Marylanders, regardless of party, and saving this state.
So against every fiber of my being, against every rational bone in my body, my message to Cox and the Maryland Republican Party is simple: Go for it.
Torrey Snow is a columnist and editorial board contributor at The Baltimore Sun; he can be reached at tsnow@baltsun.com.
