Moore still ahead after first day of mail ballot counting, but Perez narrows lead

Wes Moore held onto a comfortable lead in the race for Maryland’s Democratic nomination for governor after the first day of counting mail ballots Thursday, but Tom Perez cut more than 4,150 votes from Moore’s cushion. But for Perez to win, he must still overcome a nearly 31,000 vote gap. Experts say it is mathematically possible, but he faces a series of formidable hurdles to overcome the deficit. Political experts and campaign strategists will be studying in particular the mail-in count from Montgomery County, where Perez held a more than 20 percentage point lead over Moore in the votes counted so far.