On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that Maryland state delegate Dan Cox, the Republican nominee for governor, quietly deleted his account on Gab, an right-wing social network notorious as a haven for virulent anti-Semitism.
"Cox deleted more than 1,000 posts in striking his profile from the site, which welcomes users banned from other platforms. A web archive page of his activity did not preserve any of the posts themselves, and the Cox campaign would not discuss them," reported Ovetta Wiggins and Erin Cox. "The scrubbing of his Gab account and website appears to be an attempt by the campaign — which recently brought in out-of-state staff — to reset after its primary contest against a moderate Republican in a race seen by many as a proxy war between Gov. Larry Hogan, who endorsed Kelly Schulz, and former president Donald Trump, who backed Cox."
"Gab, which advertises itself as 'the free speech social network' and relishes in allowing users to post whatever they want, made headlines about four years ago when the man accused of opening fire on the Tree of Life synagogue was linked to antisemitic remarks on the platform. Robert Bowers, who has been indicted on more than 60 counts related to the killing of 11 people, posted on Gab for years. Gab said it removed him from the site after the shooting and notified authorities," noted the report. Cox’s distancing from Gab comes after his friend, Doug Mastriano, state senator and Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, came under intense criticism over his use of the platform, with fellow Republicans in the state calling on him to condemn the site."
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In addition to deleting his Gab account, Cox has also scrubbed his website of several of his more controversial opinions, according to the report: "The Cox campaign deleted and revamped other elements of its website after winning the July primary, including references to 'a natural right' to gun ownership, and promises to ban transgender athletes in women’s sports and conduct an audit of the 2020 presidential election, which he has called 'stolen.'"
Cox previously attended the January 6 "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection, called former Vice President Mike Pence a "traitor" for certifying the presidential election, and has given a speech at a conference promoting QAnon, the conspiracy theory that a secret group of sex-trafficking cannibals control the United States.
Hogan has refused to endorse Cox as his successor, and has accused Trump of "colluding" with Democrats to have him nominated.
