DANIEL L. COX
Embraces the Movement “White Christian Nationalists same as the Klu Klux Klan–KKK”
GOVERNING PHILOSOPHY: None
- No plan to put in place a self-development program to rehabilitate pre-release offenders.
NEW TACTICS: None
Trump called Cox “an America First Patriot” and said the state lawmaker is “MAGA all the way” in a statement released Monday evening by Trump’s Save America PAC. Cox, a right-wing conservative and full-throated backer of the ex-president, represents portions of Carroll and Frederick counties in the House of Delegates.
Republican Del. Dan Cox announces bid for Maryland governor in 2022, is first pro-Trump candidate in the race
Cox, 46, has emerged as a favorite of the wing of the Republican Party that continues to support former President Donald Trump. He advocated against last spring’s pandemic shutdowns, going so far as to unsuccessfully sue Gov. Larry Hogan over the stay-at-home order.
“He’s certainly not the kind of person I would vote to put in the legislature or support in any way for anything,” Hogan said in January.
Cox has drawn scrutiny in the House of Delegates in Annapolis, where his rhetoric has been criticized.
He compared a bill allowing younger teens to request mental health care to the Holocaust — during a debate on the floor of the House of Delegates that happened on Holocaust Remembrance Day. He said “medical professionals interfered in parental rights” during the Holocaust and would do so under the bill.
He has used the #stopthesteal hashtag favored by pro-Trump conspiracy theorists who believe the election was invalid.
Two of his bills have become law following unanimous, bipartisan votes: a requirement that courthouses post the number for a human trafficking hotline and another creating a Task Force to Study Crime Classifications and Penalties.
Cox filed his candidacy paperwork on Wednesday listing Gordana Schifanelli as his running mate, becoming the first high-profile candidate to make his campaign official.
RUNNING MATE
[Gordana] Schifanelli is an attorney who founded the Kent Island Patriots group, which has been used as a platform to criticize a former Queen Anne’s County schools superintendent who had called for better dialogue on racism and publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement.
Schifanelli also is an adjunct faculty member at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in the economics department. Schifanelli sued a woman who had posted screenshots of her online commentary and tagged the academy. Schifanelli claimed the screenshots were doctored.
That lawsuit is still pending, according to online court records.
Del. Dan Cox has picked Gordana Schifanelli, an attorney and mother of three who lives in Stevensville, as his running mate as he seeks the Republican nomination for governor. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SCHIFANELLI & ASSOCIATES)
