Cox courts Indian-American community; gets renewed Trump endorsement

Cox courts Indian-American community; gets renewed Trump endorsement

Dan Cox, Republican nominee for governor, speaks Saturday at the Festival of India in Howard County. MarylandReporter.com photo by Len Lazarick

Dan Cox with Sanjay Srivastava, president of the Indian Cultural Association, at Saturday’s Festival of India at the Howard County Fairgrounds. MarylandReporter.com photo by Len Lazarick

Del. Dan Cox, the Republican nominee for governor, got a warm welcome at the Festival of India at the Howard County Fairgrounds Saturday.

In a brief speech, Cox told the crowd that “freedom is on the line, it’s at stake” in this election.

Referring to Democratic nominee Wes Moore, Cox said: “My opponent, God bless him, they’re all in for increased taxation and things that will expand the power of the state over our children’s education, excluding parents. I’m not for that. I’m for empowering parents, power back to the people.”

Hundreds attended the festival of food, traditional dance and a shopping bazaar of Indian clothing put on by the Indian Cultural Association, representing the largest immigrant group in Howard County.

On Sunday, Cox was in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., at a rally where he got a loud shout-out from former President Donald Trump, according to a Newsweek transcript of the speech and a YouTube video.

“A man I’m very proud of. He’s got a tough race. But I’m very proud of this,” Trump said. “His name is Dan Cox. And he beat Larry Hogan’s candidate by like 20 points with my endorsement. With my endorsement, and he’s doing fantastically. Dan, congratulations.

“And Larry Hogan—and this is my fault, I’m sorry, Dan—but Larry Hogan is not going to be supporting you only because I am supporting you. So I don’t know what that means. But I can tell you that Maryland has a great, great man running and I hope you’re going to do well and we’ll be out there helping you.”

As for Hogan, Trump said: “You have a RINO [Republican in Name Only] governor in Maryland. His name is Larry Hogan. I think he wants to run for president, they said you got to look in the mirror first—it’s not gonna work. Not gonna work. But he’s a real RINO and he doesn’t want this man because this is all for our country.”

The Cox campaign put out a press release touting Trump’s continuing endorsement. Cox responded in a statement:

“In November, Maryland will reject the division and hate being sewn (sic) by Joe Biden, Wes Moore, and Larry Hogan. Maryland will not allow itself to be used as a steppingstone for selfish presidential ambitions.

“My campaign is about returning power to the people and giving them a voice. It’s about addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division. When elected, I will govern this same way. Together, we will unite all of Maryland around a shared vision of a better future.

About The Author

Len Lazarick

len@marylandreporter.com

Len Lazarick was the founding editor and publisher of MarylandReporter.com and is currently the president of its nonprofit corporation and chairman of its board He was formerly the State House bureau chief of the daily Baltimore Examiner from its start in April 2006 to its demise in February 2009. He was a copy editor on the national desk of the Washington Post for eight years before that, and has spent decades covering Maryland politics and government.