AP, Perez say it’s too early to project Moore as Democratic primary winner for Md. governor
Multiple media outlets have projected Wes Moore as the winner of the Democratic primary for Maryland governor, while The Associated Press reports that it’s too early to call the race.
CBS News, CNN and NBC News have all projected Moore as the winner.
But AP reports that a large number of mail-in ballots haven’t been counted, including in Montgomery County, where Tom Perez leads Moore by 22 percentage points.
AP reports that Moore leads Perez by 31,084 votes, or 6.8 percentage points, out of 457,617 ballots counted as of 1 p.m. on Friday.
Danielle Gaines, editor-in-chief of Maryland Matters, a WTOP News partner, explains that if the trends continue from the first batch of mail-in votes that were tallied on Thursday morning, Perez would have the most support from mail-in voters, followed by Peter Franchot and Moore.
Moore would still come out on top in that scenario. But with tens of thousands of ballots yet to be counted in Montgomery County — where Perez has a tight hold — some are saying it’s too soon to name a victor.
Perez’s campaign said in a statement Friday that he isn’t conceding yet.
“Put simply, it’s too early to call this race. (Thursday) was the first day of counting for the 212,962 recorded and received vote-by-mail ballots and it was a huge day for Tom Perez,” the statement reads.
“He flipped multiple counties from election day and made major vote gains statewide, all while as many as 80,000 votes remain in Montgomery County — the largest remaining vote share and Tom’s incredibly strong base.”
But Todd Eberly, Professor of Political Science at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, said that there are lots of uncounted mail-in ballots in Baltimore City and County too — where Moore has a strong base.
Between the uncounted ballots in Baltimore and Moore’s significant lead, Eberly concludes that “it seems very, very unlikely that anything will change with regard to the current rank order, which has Moore on top.”
There were 10 candidates in the Democratic primary for governor including Perez, a former U.S. labor secretary and former Democratic Party chair; and Franchot, the state’s four-term state comptroller.
Franchot conceded the race and congratulated Moore while thanking his supporters in a tweet on Friday.
“With voting rights, Roe v. Wade, health care, common sense gun control, climate change, and economic stability being the key issues of this moment, it is vital that Marylanders come together to elect a Democrat to be the next governor,” Franchot said.
— Comptroller Peter Franchot (@peterfranchot) July 22, 2022
Polls had shown it as a tight race, with both Perez and Moore closing strong for months, followed by Franchot, Eberly said.
“In the final weeks Moore just closed stronger,” Eberly said. “He and Perez … were tireless campaigners. I mean, they were out constantly trying to drum up votes and I think in the end, it boosted them both.”
In November, Moore, the former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty organization, is expected to face off against Dan Cox, a far-right state legislator endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, has held the seat for the last two terms, but could not run again because of term limits.
Moore is a third-generation Marylander who was born in Takoma Park.
If he wins in November, he would be the state’s first Black governor.
Moore’s running mate was former Maryland State Del. Aruna Miller.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.