US midterms: Wes Moore and Josh Shapiro win second terms as Maryland and Pennsylvania governors
Wes Moore has been re-elected in Maryland and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, giving two prominent Democratic governors second terms as midterm counting continues elsewhere.
Two Democratic governors won second terms in the United States midterm elections on Tuesday night, with Wes Moore re-elected in Maryland and Josh Shapiro re-elected in Pennsylvania, as counting continued in congressional races across the country. The two governor results, called by the Associated Press soon after polls closed in their states, were among the first clear statewide outcomes of an election night in which control of Congress remained undecided.
In Maryland, the Associated Press called the race for Moore as soon as polls closed at 8 p.m., giving the incumbent Democrat a second term over Republican challenger Dan Cox. The contest was a rematch of the 2022 election, which Moore also won, and the call came quickly even as officials stressed that counting would continue, including provisional and mail ballots.
Moore made history in 2022 as Maryland's first Black governor, taking office alongside Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, the state's first immigrant and Asian American elected to statewide office in Maryland. His re-election keeps that partnership in place for a further four-year term at the head of a state government facing difficult choices in the years ahead.
The challenges awaiting Moore in his second term are substantial. Maryland faces a severe budget gap, and the rebuilding of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, destroyed in 2024, is already far behind schedule and billions of dollars above its originally projected cost. How the state closes its budget shortfall and keeps the bridge project moving will be among the defining tests of the new term.
Moore's political future beyond Maryland has also drawn attention. He is widely discussed as a possible contender in the 2028 presidential race, although at the only gubernatorial debate this autumn he did not commit to serving a full four-year term, saying instead that he was focused on being governor. His re-election nevertheless strengthens his standing within the Democratic Party nationally.
In Pennsylvania, the Associated Press declared Shapiro the winner at 8:01 p.m. Eastern time, handing the Democratic governor a second term over Republican Stacy Garrity. Garrity, the state's two-term elected treasurer, had been endorsed by President Donald Trump, but Shapiro's victory keeps Pennsylvania, one of the country's most closely fought swing states, under Democratic leadership for another four years.
Shapiro, Pennsylvania's 48th governor, first took office in January 2023 after serving two terms as the state's attorney general. He campaigned for re-election on his first-term record, pointing to investment in public education, increased law enforcement staffing, job creation and the continuation of free school breakfasts for pupils, and he ran alongside Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis.
For his second term, Shapiro has set out priorities including raising the minimum wage, writing abortion rights into state law and taxing skill game machines. He has built a reputation as a popular moderate in a purple state, and, like Moore, he is considered a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, although he has not announced any such bid.
The governor races mattered in their own right, separate from the battle for Congress. Thirty-six governorships were on the ballot in these midterms, and governors hold wide powers over state budgets, schools, policing and election administration. Victories in Maryland and Pennsylvania therefore shape policy in two very different states, whatever the final balance in Washington turns out to be.
Elsewhere on election night, results were still coming in. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 Senate seats were contested, and early Senate projections had already pointed to Democratic holds in Georgia and Virginia. As more states report, the full shape of the midterm outcome, in the statehouses as well as in Congress, will become clearer in the hours ahead.
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