CNN: “The Maryland governor is so popular in his solidly blue state that former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who’d been eager to take another run at his old job, preemptively pulled the plug on a comeback campaign. Moore is a Rhodes Scholar and bestselling author. Oprah Winfrey spoke at Moore’s 2022 inauguration, candidates around the country are already putting in requests for him to join them, and George Clooney keeps saying he wants Moore to run for president, even hosting the governor on his yacht off the coast of Italy last Labor Day.”

“But neither Moore nor national Democrats have swayed Bill Ferguson, the Baltimore-based president of the Maryland Senate. Ferguson is blocking Moore’s push to redraw the state’s US House maps and try to eliminate the only Republican-held seat out of eight, rejecting even holding a vote on a proposal that moved easily through the state House of Delegates.”

A new Baltimore Banner poll in Maryland finds Gov. Wes Moore (D) leading in a possible match up with former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), 45% to 37% with another 14% undecided. 

Hogan, who served two terms as governor, has dropped social media hints suggesting that he is weighing another campaign.

A new Baltimore Sun poll in Maryland finds Wes Moore (D) crushing Dan Cox (R) in the race for governor, 58% to 27%.

A new Washington Post/University of Maryland poll find Wes Moore (D) with a 32-percentage point lead over Dan Cox (R) in the Maryland governor’s race, 60% to 28%.

“Maryland Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox has deleted his account on Gab, a social media platform known as an online hub for hate speech and white nationalists, and his campaign website no longer notes his fight against certifying the 2020 presidential election results,” the Washington Post reports.

“Cox deleted more than 1,000 posts in striking his profile from the site, which welcomes users banned from other platforms.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) “has ratcheted up the rhetoric about gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox (R), describing him earlier this week as mentally unstable,” the Washington Post reports.

“Hogan, who has previously called Cox a ‘QAnon whack job,’ described the GOP nominee as ‘a nut’ during a recent radio interview and reiterated his prediction that Cox has ‘no chance whatsoever’ of being elected as Maryland’s governor in November.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) will not support Dan Cox (R) as the Republican nominee for governor following the major primary election upset declaring him the winner, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Washington Post: Where does Larry Hogan go from here?

“Personally, I’d prefer endorsements from people who didn’t lose Maryland by 33 points.”

— Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), quoted by The Hill, shortly after Donald Trump announced that he was endorsing Maryland state Del. Daniel Cox (R) for governor in next year’s GOP primary.

“I’m going to be the first Black governor Maryland has ever had.”

— Robin Ficker (R), who is white, quoted by the Washington Post.

Maryland Matters: “Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor and one-time chairman of the Republican National Committee, has created an exploratory committee ahead of a possible run for governor in 2022.”

“Tom Perez, who spent the last four years leading the national Democratic Party, is launching a campaign to be Maryland’s next governor,” the Baltimore Sun reports.

Former Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler (D) is making another attempt to become Maryland governor, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Gansler’s previous bid fell apart when he was photographed at a house party with dozens of drunk teenagers.

Former U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr. (D) is launching a campaign for governor of Maryland, joining a nascent but growing field of candidates vying to replace term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in the 2022 election, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Washington Post: “Party leaders have largely rationalized Larry Hogan’s (R) resounding victory over former NAACP chief Ben Jealous as an anomaly.”

“Hogan sought to flip enough legislative seats to break the super­majority Democrats have held in both chambers for nearly 50 years. Instead, he faces a Senate with more left-of-center Democrats and a House of Delegates with an even larger supermajority — Democrats picked up at least five seats in that chamber.”

A new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has built a formidable lead over challenger Ben Jealous (D), 58% to 38%,”with few voters undecided, and most preferring the incumbent Republican even on key Jealous policy issues such as health care and education.”

A new Goucher Poll in Maryland finds that likely voters favor Gov. Larry Hogan (R) over challenger Ben Jealous (D) by a margin of 54% to 32%.

Key finding: “In addition to Hogan securing his Republican base by large margins, the poll found he had the support of 38 percent of Maryland Democrats, who outnumber GOP voters in the state by more than 2 to 1.”