Dan Cox is the new face of Maryland’s Republican Party. Can the GOP still win?

Maryland Republicans’ choice of candidates in Tuesday’s primary election was also a choice about the direction of the party: Was it still the party of outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan’s pragmatic conservatism, or had the cultural clashes and demagoguery that has swept other states taken control here? The nomination of an election conspiracy theorist for governor and a one-time Southern secessionist for attorney general delivered a clear answer.