Four details from the Maryland governor debate between Wes Moore and Dan Cox

Maryland’s top two candidates for governor, Democrat Wes Moore and Republican Dan Cox, faced off Wednesday in what is likely the only debate between the two men this fall.

Here are some key takeaways from their 60 minutes together in front of the TV cameras.

Cox struggled with his message

Cox struggled to articulate a clear message to voters as to why he’s the better choice to lead Maryland.

In criticizing Moore, he repeatedly referenced an article on the website Salon, but didn’t read any exact quotes. At one point, he said viewers could find it by doing a Google search for Salon.com.

Answering a question on abortion, Cox said that Moore supported late term abortions but lost his way in the answer, fumbling his words before settling on saying that Moore’s position is “absolutely disgusting” and “extreme.”

Cox also tried to criticize Moore’s history in Baltimore, which was a point of contention in the competitive Democratic primary.

“There are so many things in his book that are completely false. You look at the book, he claims he was raised in Baltimore City,” Cox said. “Sir, you weren’t there until you were 34.”

Moore did not respond directly, but again invoked Hogan’s characterization of Cox as unfit.

“Frankly, I’m standing on stage right now with an extremist election denier,” Moore said.

Some in the public believe that Moore was born and raised in Baltimore City, even though he was raised largely in the Bronx. Moore’s mother moved to Anne Arundel County when he was a teenager in military boarding school and he moved to Baltimore to attend Johns Hopkins University.

While the text of Moore’s bestselling memoir “The Other Wes Moore” is accurate, for several years the back cover of the paperback version incorrectly summarized the book, saying Moore was born in Baltimore.

Cox also struggled with the format

Cox frequently asked moderator Jason Newton for more opportunities to respond to Moore. Newton allowed some rebuttals, but after the candidates each had opportunities to answer a question and respond to each other, he typically moved on to the next question.

During the final question, Newton urged Cox to wrap up his answer so the candidates could move to closing statements.

Cox objected, arguing he should be able to use all of his time. “I was going to just wrap it up, I had 16 seconds left on the clock,” Cox said.

Cox rushed to finish his answer and Newton said, “We’ve got to move on, sir.” Newton indicated to Moore to go first with his closing statement.

As Moore spoke, Cox spoke over him. “I was told I would go first” because Moore gave his opening statement first, Cox said. “That was the rules.”

Moore stopped speaking, gestured his hand toward Cox and said: “Go ahead. Please, go ahead.”

Cox gave his closing statement, followed by Moore, without incident. The two shook hands at the end of the debate and parted ways.

“That was interesting,” Moore said quietly.

Gov. Hogan on their minds

Neither Cox nor Moore historically has been a fan of outgoing Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, but you might not know it from the debate. Both invoked Hogan at different points in the debate.

As Moore explained why he only accepted one televised debate, he quoted Hogan’s assessment of Cox as unfit to be governor.

“The fact that even Gov. Hogan said he will not support his candidacy and called him unfit to lead, I think should be a clear indication to voters as to why I want to spend my time talking to voters instead of just on the debate stage,” Moore said.

Cox, meanwhile, said he “stood with Gov. Hogan’s policies to lower taxes, lower crime, while my opponent instead ... has proclaimed he wants to defund the police.” (Moore has not said he wants to defund the police.)

Cox did not mention that he sued Hogan over restrictions during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, nor did Cox mention that he unsuccessfully attempted to impeach the governor.

A few minutes later, after more exchanges between the two candidates, Moore said Cox’s responses were divisive and dangerous.

“What Gov. Hogan said about you being unfit ... is on full display,” Moore said.

Hogan came up again later, when Moore noted that Cox “tried to impeach Gov. Hogan because he chose to follow the science” on the coronavirus.

Panelist Jeff Salkin of Maryland Public Television asked each candidate to give Hogan a grade.

Moore said Hogan’s grade is “incomplete” because his term is not yet finished. Cox said Hogan gets “an A on everything except for the differences of opinion we’ve had on COVID.”

This will likely be the race’s only debate

Cox and Moore aren’t the first gubernatorial candidates to bicker about when and how many times to take the debate stage, but historically, the Republican and Democratic nominees face off multiple times.

Hogan and 2018 Democratic challenger Ben Jealous bucked that trend, when they met just once in late September. It appears that this cycle’s nominees will follow in their footsteps. MPT’s is the only debate Moore has agreed to.

While discussing the state’s historically Black colleges and universities, Cox said multiple times that Moore skipped a debate hosted by Morgan State University, an HBCU in Baltimore.

“I spoke with the students there and I was honored and privileged to be part of that,” he said.

Moore pushed back on Cox’s characterization of his attendance. He didn’t skip the Morgan State debate, he said; instead, his team made the decision to spend time with Morgan students later this month and take the debate stage at MPT.

Speaking to reporters after the debate ended, Cox said he felt he got his message across but that a second debate would be helpful to Marylanders.

“You’ll see that we didn’t get to really get to some of the questions maybe that Maryland would want to ask,” he said.

On the contrary, Moore said after the debate, voters “got a very clear understanding of not just who I am, but also the danger that my opponent presents.”

There’s no point in doing that again, he said.

The Democrat may be trying to sit on a lead. Two public polls conducted in recent weeks show Moore holding a double-digit advantage over his opponent. Maryland’s gubernatorial race tends to feature multiple debates. The electorate is dominated by Democrats, who make up more than half of registered voters, compared to Republicans, who make up less than a quarter, according to state records.

pamela.wood@thebaltimorebanner.com

emily.sullivan@thebaltimorebanner.com

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