Trump-endorsed Del. Dan Cox wins Maryland GOP governor primary

(CNN) -- Maryland Republicans chose state lawmaker Dan Cox, an election denier who has taken a series of hard-line conservative positions, as their nominee for what will be one of the most difficult governor's offices for the party to hold in November's midterms.

Cox won the GOP race to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. It's not yet clear which Democrat he will face; author Wes Moore and former Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez were the leading vote-getters as ballots were being counted Tuesday night.

The primary was a proxy fight between former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Cox, and Hogan, who endorsed his former commerce secretary, Kelly Schulz.

That Hogan had won two terms in Maryland was a feat: Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state, two-to-one; the state hasn't backed a GOP presidential candidate since 1988. But Hogan is seen as one of the GOP's most moderate figures.

Cox has stoked fears about election fraud. He said in December 2020 on Facebook that Trump should seize voting machines. He chartered three buses to Trump's January 6, 2021, rally in Washington. And he tweeted amid the insurrection, "Pence is a traitor."

He has also threatened a lawsuit over mail-in ballots.

Democrats believe Cox poses a much easier general election match-up than Schultz would have. The Democratic Governors Association spent more than $1 million on television advertisements that highlighted Trump's endorsement and Cox's most conservative positions -- a tactic intended to boost Republican support for Cox but diminish his standing among moderates headed into November's general election.

Those spots highlighted his opposition to gun restrictions and abortion rights and his endorsement from Trump. One calls Cox "too close to Trump, too conservative for Maryland."

Schultz, in a news conference with Hogan last month, said that Democrats are attempting to "spend a million now and save $5 million by not having to face me in the general election."

Cox's victory came as elections officials had begun what could be a weeks-long process of counting ballots, with races left to be decided that will test Democratic voters' views of the party's establishment and Republicans' willingness to stick with what's been a winning formula for the GOP in the deep-blue state.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET, and county officials were barred from beginning to process the record-breaking number of mail-in ballots for a primary election until after in-person voting concluded.

The outcome of another major race was also clear Tuesday night: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen easily fended off a Democratic primary challenge on Tuesday, according to a CNN projection.

The marquee contest on Maryland's primary ballots Tuesday was the governor's race. Hogan, who is among his party's most moderate figures and one who has frequently criticized Trump, is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

His departure has turned the primaries in the governor's race -- one unfolding in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by about two-to-one, but where the GOP has held the governor's office for 12 of the last 20 years -- into a window into the larger battles unfolding in both parties on the national stage.

Democrats saw a wide-open showdown featuring 10 candidates -- a field that included Perez, Oprah Winfrey-backed Moore, state comptroller Peter Franchot, former US Education Secretary John King and Doug Gansler, the former Maryland attorney general and failed 2014 gubernatorial candidate.

The primaries in the governor's race are the most closely watched contests on Tuesday's slate in Maryland, where the election was pushed back three weeks due to litigation over the state's legislative maps.

Election results could take days or even weeks to finalize. According to Maryland's Board of Elections, more than 508,000 people requested mail-in ballots -- shattering previous records for primaries. Counties cannot begin counting those ballots until Thursday, and elections officials say some counties could still be counting mail-in ballots in the first week of August.