There was an interesting article on NPR about the Governor’s race in Maryland, where first-term state representative and “big lie” promoter Dan Cox won the Republican primary to face Democrat Wes Moore, 43, who would be the first black Governor of Maryland if elected.

Maryland has about twice as many Democrats as Republicans, so in order to win, a Republican has to win the overwhelming majority of independents and take a chunk out of the Democratic electorate. The outgoing moderate Republican Governor was able to do that, twice. According to recent polling data, about 84% of Democrats would not consider supporting Cox in this general election, so he has his work cut out for him.

In this race the Democratic Governors Association spent more than $1 million running ads touting Cox’s record supporting Trump, abortion restrictions and gun rights. It’s a strategy — to boost extreme Republicans that the Democrats think are beatable — that is risky. But it’s not the first time that it’s been tried this year.

For the record, the Democrats say the ads were designed to be attack ads so that they’re starting the general election fight early, but that would only make sense if they could be certain that Cox would be the winner of the Republican primary.

Moore, his Democratic opponent, has worked both in the private and non-profit sectors, and was most recently the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a national anti-poverty organization. He has received strong support from Oprah Winfrey, among others.

In any case, we’ll soon see how this strategy of promoting extreme Republicans works out in the long run.