Biden makes final midterm pitch in blue-state Maryland

President Biden made his closing midterm pitch the night before Election Day, helping Maryland’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Wes Moore, against his GOP opponent, Dan Cox, who is endorsed by former President Trump. 

Biden rallied for Moore at Bowie State University, which marked a full circle midterm cycle for Biden after he kicked off the campaign season in Rockville, Md., with Moore in August.

Trump held a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser last month for Cox, who has repeated Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen and tried to impeach Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) for his pandemic policies.

Biden said on Monday night that Cox, a state lawmaker, supported the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and organized buses to them.

“For Wes Moore, patriotism meant leaving his family and putting on our country’s uniform and leading his fellow soldiers in combat. His opponent’s patriotism means putting on a baseball cap, inviting people to attack the Capitol,” Biden said. Moore is a former combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.

“You can’t be pro-American and pro-insurrection. It’s real simple,” he added.

Biden also rattled off Moore’s plans for Maryland if he’s elected on Tuesday, including supporting reproductive rights and banning ghost guns.

He compared those policies to Cox, saying, “This is the guy raffling off an AR-15 at a campaign event.”

“Give me a break,” Biden said.

Cox reportedly raffled off an AR-15 at his campaign kickoff event in 2021.

Additionally, Biden highlighted that Hogan, a Republican, has not supported Cox. Hogan in August said he won’t endorse any Maryland governor candidate after Cox defeated his preferred candidate in the primary, and he has called Cox a “QAnon whack job” and “a nut.”

Moore and first lady Jill Biden spoke before the president in Bowie. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) also joined them onstage. He is up for reelection in a race The Cook Political Report rates “solid Democratic.” 

Biden plead to the supporters on hand to reelect Van Hollen. 

Earlier on Monday, Biden acknowledged that Democrats keeping control of Congress is “a very high expectation” but said he remains optimistic. Final midterm predictions in the days ahead of the election show Republicans with an increased likelihood of taking over the House and Senate.

“Keep them. You need them. I need them,” Biden said about Democrats in Bowie.

Two protestors yelled during the president’s remarks, and Biden replied, comparing one to so-called MAGA Republicans.

The president yelled into the stands, “You look crazy enough to jump. Don’t jump. Don’t jump.”

“The MAGA Republicans and that guy up in the balcony threatening to jump, they don’t understand we have a climate crisis,” he added, continuing on with his speech.

Both hecklers were escorted out of the event.

Moore is consistently leading in the polls, even by as many as 31 percentage points.

Moore said at the event that a reporter asked him why he’s continuing to campaign so aggressively considering how far ahead he is in the polls. Moore said he plans to govern aggressively and that the only poll that matters is Election Day.

The president has raised eyebrows for visiting typically blue strongholds, including Maryland, in the days leading up to Election Day. He visited New York on Sunday, Illinois on Saturday, and New Mexico and California last week.