BALTIMORE _ Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan easily won a second term Tuesday, lifted by Democrats who crossed party lines to vote for his centrist approach to governing despite their anger over President Donald Trump.
In defeating Democrat Ben Jealous, Hogan achieved a rare feat in heavily Democratic Maryland.
"Thanks to you I just became the second Republican re-elected in the entire ... history of our state," Hogan told supporters in Annapolis, the state capital.
With most votes counted, Hogan lead in 21 of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions. He led Jealous by double digits just as he had in all public polls for a year.
Hogan promised four more years of bipartisanship and growth.
"Tonight in this deep blue state, in this blue year, with a blue wave _ it turns out I can surf," he said.
Hogan thanked Jealous for running a "spirited" campaign and giving voters a choice.
"While we disagreed on the issues, he has my respect, and I sincerely wish him well in his future pursuits," Hogan said.
During the campaign, Hogan and Jealous fiercely disagreed on the direction of the state and the other's man ability to lead it. Hogan took credit for the state's growing economy, improved Chesapeake Bay and a bipartisan deal to lower health care costs. He also touted his role in bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax, toll and fee cuts to Marylanders. The governor and his surrogates accused Jealous of being extreme, reckless and a socialist.
Hogan made few promises about what he would do in a second term, except to assure voters that he wouldn't turn hard to the right and that he would push for tax cuts for retirees.
Jealous sought to portray Maryland as sliding backward under Hogan with a stale economy, worsening crime, underfunded schools and an out-of-control opioid epidemic.
The Democrat released more than a dozen detailed proposals for change, including a state system of Medicare for all, debt-free college tuition and legalizing marijuana to pay for universal pre-kindergarten. Jealous and his allies accused Hogan of being closely tied to Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, and the Trump administration.
In independent political polling, Hogan consistently led by double digits.
He maintained high approval ratings for most of his time in office _ making him one of the most popular governors in the country. After an upset victory over Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in 2014, Hogan bonded with voters during his first year in office, especially during the riot in Baltimore and his recovery from cancer.
Jealous, a former leader of the NAACP, venture capitalist and Rhodes Scholar, struggled to raise money for the campaign and for months had little help from national Democratic organizations.
Running as a first-time candidate in the June Democratic primary, Jealous emerged from a crowded field and beat his closest competitor by 10 percentage points. He won the primary by mobilizing a coalition, including unions representing teachers and health care workers, while drawing in small individual contributions from around the country. Where his rivals failed to generate much enthusiasm, Jealous excited his base by advocating for progressive causes.
But after the primary victory, Jealous struggled to gain traction. His cash-poor campaign never came close to matching a richly financed Hogan media juggernaut. The Republican Governors Association ran ads defining Jealous as a socialist for months before he could afford to go on the air.
����
(Michael Dresser, Talia Richman, Justin Fenton, Pamela Wood, Jeff Barker and Colin Campbell contributed to this report.)
