A former Maryland lawmaker has joined the staff of Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano.
Dan Cox, a former Maryland delegate and failed Republican candidate for governor, will serve as chief of staff for the Franklin County lawmaker.
Mastriano and Cox sought the governorship of their respective states and campaigned together in the lead-up to the 2022 general election.
Cox’s new role was first reported on Twitter Thursday by Politico reporter Holly Otterbein."
FROM:
Pennsylvania Capital Star
Former Md. GOP gubernatorial candidate to serve as Mastriano’s chief of staff
BY: CASSIE MILLER - FEBRUARY 10, 2023 4:20 PM
“Involvement in the January 6 United States Capitol attack
In November 2020, Cox said that he was part of a Republican legal team observing the count of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia during the 2020 United States presidential election.[26] After Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Cox has repeatedly endorsed Trump's false claims of a "stolen" election and called for a "forensic audit" of the 2020 election results,[27][28] later calling for an audit of the 2020 elections in Maryland.[29]
Cox helped arrange for buses to take constituents to the "Save America March" in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021; the rally preceded the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which a mob of Trump supporters disrupted Congress's counting of the electoral votes in a failed attempt to keep Trump in power. During the rally, Cox sent a tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence, writing "Pence is a traitor."[8][30][31] After receiving backlash, Cox tweeted and retweeted false claims blaming antifa for the attack on the Capitol, and expressed his support for Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, an extremist group with nationalist, neofascist and self-proclaimed Western-chauvinist views.[32][33] Cox later said in June 2022 that his Twitter post was "his way of expressing his disappointment and not a personal attack on the vice president."[34] After his win in the Republican gubernatorial primary, Cox has denied organizing buses for the rally.[35][36]
The Frederick County Democratic Central Committee began a letter-writing campaign calling for Cox to be expelled from the House of Delegates for his false claims.[37] Two days later Cox issued a statement denouncing "all mob violence including those who broke into the U.S. Capitol."[37] In the statement Cox said he had attended the rally, but was not involved in the storming of the Capitol. He did not retract his statement about Pence.[37] Governor Larry Hogan and Steven Clark, the chairman of the Frederick County Republican Central Committee, denounced Cox's comments, and delegate Kathleen Dumais, the co-chair of the House Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics, said that the committee received some inquiries about Cox's tweets.[38][39]
In February 2022, representatives from Our Revolution and other progressive groups urged the Maryland State Board of Elections to consider blocking Cox from the ballot for his participation in the insurrection, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.[40] In May 2022, a lawsuit was filed against Maryland Elections Administrator Linda Lamone, seeking to remove Cox from the 2022 Republican primary ballot for his presence during the Capitol attack.[41] Anne Arundel County circuit court judge Mark W. Crooks dismissed the case on May 20, 2022.[42]”
2016 House of Representatives election campaign[edit]
Main article: 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Maryland § District 8
On February 1, 2016, Cox filed to run in 2016 in Maryland's 8th congressional district.[22]
Cox was described as being the most conservative candidate in the Republican primary race.[17] He campaigned on imposing a 10 percent flat tax for incomes over $36,000 and eliminating payroll taxes, strengthening gun ownership rights, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and reducing funding and programs for the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development.[12] He supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries.[17] Cox won the Republican primary with 44.4 percent of the vote.[23] Cox pledged to join the Freedom Caucus, a group of tea party supporters, if elected.[24]
In the general election, Democratic Party nominee Jamie Raskin defeated Cox (61%-34%).[20][21]
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