Dan Cox says he has not filed to run for House, has reported FEC filing for fraud

Former Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox said on Tuesday that he has not filed to run for Rep. David Trone’s (D-Md.) seat in the House, after a form was filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) under his name on Monday.

Cox, a former Maryland state delegate, said in a tweet that he has not filed to run for Maryland’s 6th congressional district and has “reported this matter to the FEC for fraud.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) defeated Cox in the state’s gubernatorial race last year and became the state’s first Black governor.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had spoken out against Cox, who he said was a “big loss for the Republican Party” after he won GOP gubernatorial primary last year.

Cox, who was endorsed by former President Trump, prominently denied the results of the 2020 presidential election and echoed Trump’s disproven claims. He also organized buses for attendees of Trump’s Washington, D.C., rally Jan. 6, 2021, from which scores of Trump supporters marched on and rioted at the Capitol.

Cox also sought to impeach Hogan in February 2022 for the governor’s imposition of COVID-19 restrictions.

Before running for governor, Cox ran for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in 2016. He lost that race to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) in the general election after winning the GOP primary.

Republicans have an uphill battle in the state of Maryland after the state most recently elected Moore with more than 64 percent of the vote. President Biden also carried the state in 2020 with more than 65 percent of the vote.

Trone announced in May that he would be running for Sen. Ben Cardin’s (D-Md.) seat after the senator announced he would retire after his current term ends.

Maryland state Del. Joe Vogel (D) announced a bid for Trone’s seat in May. If elected, he would become the latest member of Generation Z elected to Congress.

In a statement following the filing, the Vogel campaign said, “Marylanders overwhelmingly rejected Dan Cox at the ballot box in 2016 and in 2022 — and they will again in 2024. His extremism is completely out of step with the voters of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.”

— Updated July 4 at 10:48 a.m.