If the gets the nod the governorship will flip. I cannot see him winning a statewide election Maryland. He might even drag down candidates down ballot.
Are there any competitive races downballot? I feel like most races tend to be either safe D or safe R in Maryland.
Maybe a handful of legislative/county races. But yeah, all the congressional races (including Senate) will be safe and there's no doubt that Democrats will continue to control both chambers of the legislature, as they've done for over a century.
It's honestly kind of amazing that Maryland's consistently been a Democratic stronghold through so many different alignments, even as the internal coalitions have shifted.
Actually, MD was not a Democratic stronghold pre-1992.
It voted for the GOP in 1984 and 1988, and went for Carter narrowly enough in 1980. Prior to that, it voted in a landslide for Nixon in 1972, and went for Humphrey only narrowly in 1968. Before which it went for the GOP in 1948 (even as Truman won nationally) and 1952 and 1956. It also went for the GOP from 1920-1928. In 1904 Roosevelt won the actual popular vote in MD by 51 votes. It also voted for McKinely twice. Admittedly, it was solidly blue from 1868-1892.
But before the Civil War it was a solidly Whig (not Democratic) state that went for the the Whig in every election from 1828 (Quincy over Jackson) and 1832, arguably the first race with a Whig and a Democrat (by four votes - the narrowest raw vote margin ever!!) to 1848, inclusive. It only went for the Democrat in 1852, by which time Clay had died and the Whig Party had basically collapsed, with Democratic candidate Pierce winning in a landslide.