Heated exchanges and fiery jabs flew freely between the Democratic and Republican nominees for governor during the Maryland Public Television debate tonight.
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The topics covered ranged from abortion to taxes, but Wes Moore and Dan Cox argued down to the basics over the meaning of freedom and our election system.
Cox accused Moore of wanting to 'defund the police,' while Moore called it "irresponsible and frankly dangerous to continue to cast doubt in the election system of Maryland," presumably referring to Cox.
The following is just one of the fiery exchanges from the MPT debate tonight.
In answering a question about whether he would support a Moore administration if he lost, Cox begins his answer by saying "Absolutely, we need to be team players."
Cox talks about their differences, including the 'defund the police' accusation, and ends with "This is the difference between us. It's a stark difference and when you look at the reason he won't debate, it's because he's a phony. There are so many things in his book at are completely false. If you look at his book, he claims he was raised in Baltimore City. But, sir, you weren't there until you were 34."
Moore, given the chance to respond, said, "I mean, we're watching a perfect indication as to why Governor Hogan called you unfit to lead. We're watching a perfect indication as to why Governor Hogan has said, not only will I not support Delegate Cox, I won't even give him a tour of the governor's office."
"Frankly," Moore added, "I'm standing on stage right now with an extremist election denier, whose rhetoric and whose policies are not just dangerous and divisive, but will take our state backwards."
"I think that's preposterous, I need to respond," said Cox. "This is outrageous and ridiculous. We are bigger than middle school name calling, sir."
After the debate, Cox issued the following statement:
“Once again, my opponent Wes Moore failed to provide any actual solutions for Maryland, choosing instead to just recycle his canned talking points,” said Delegate Dan Cox. “When asked to give a grade to Governor Larry Hogan’s performance, he refused to answer. Maryland deserves to know whether Wes Moore plans to undo all of the Governor’s good work the last eight years.
Despite his tailored talking points, Wes Moore cannot commit to a single solid initiative as governor. He would rather complain about Maryland’s issues than offer actionable solutions. He would be much better suited as Maryland’s motivational speaker or as a spokesperson, but he is clearly not suited to being Governor.
Tonight, my message to voters is clear: Maryland needs to continue to build on the successes of Larry Hogan. We need to keep Maryland SAFE—with Safety, Affordability, Freedom, and Education.
Marylanders deserve more, not Wes Moore.”
WMAR-2 News spoke to both candidates, in separate half-hour interviews, about many of the topics covered in tonight's debate. We'll be airing our next segment tomorrow evening, Thursday, October 13th.
But you can watch the full interviews at the links below.
