Wes Moore emerged as the winner of a crowded Democratic field for governor on Friday, setting up a contest between the political newcomer and Trump loyalist Dan Cox in November’s general election.

The Associated Press called the race for Moore shortly before midnight on Friday, three days after polls closed. (Due to Maryland law, mail-in ballots could not be counted until Thursday at 10 a.m., delaying results.) He’s held the lead since election night, and as of Saturday, Moore had 34% of the vote. His two closest rivals, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and current Maryland comptroller Peter Franchot, conceded the race.

Other outlets like CBS, NBC, and CNN projected Moore the winner earlier in the day on Friday. More mail-in ballots are still being counted, and results are not expected to be certified until August.

A first-time candidate, author, Rhodes scholar and former nonprofit executive, Moore won endorsements from big names like Oprah Winfrey, and (locally) big names like Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and former Maryland governor Parris Glendening. If elected in November, he’ll be Maryland’s first Black governor.

Moore, a veteran, who grew up in Takoma Park and moved to Baltimore for college, first rose to national recognition with the publication of his memoir, The Other Wes Moore, in 2010. After entering the race this cycle, some began to question portions the book and Moore’s own telling of his story. Critics say Moore allowed a narrative about his surviving a tough neighborhood in Baltimore to go uncorrected. An anonymous political dossier was even circulated alleging Moore had lied about his childhood – prompting Moore to ask state investigators to probe the creation of the document.

Moore, Franchot, and Perez emerged as the top three candidates late in the campaign, although no clear frontrunner was identified in the crowded field of candidates, even as early voting began.

Dan Cox’s win was called early Tuesday as the GOP nomination for governor, beating Gov. Larry Hogan-backed candidate Kelly Schulz. Cox, a far-right conservative and Trump loyalist, campaigned on right-wing talking points characteristic of other Trump-endorsed candidates: uplifting the “voices of parents,” restricting abortion access, and protecting the Second Amendment. Cox continues to subscribe to the lie about a stolen 2020 election. He bused groups of people to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and tweeted that then-Vice President Mike Pence was a “traitor.” (He later deleted the tweet.) In an interview on Wednesday, Cox told NBC4 that if elected in November, he’d focus on combating COVID-19 restrictions — which have largely fallen away — restricting abortion access, and furthering Trump’s agenda in the state.

Outgoing Republican Governor Larry Hogan has described Cox as a “QAnon whack job,” and told WBAL TV that he believes Cox has “no business being the nominee.”

“I think it’s a terrible mistake for the Maryland Republican party and the state of Maryland,” Hogan said on Thursday.

Cox’s victory may make Moore’s path to the governor’s mansion easier than had the more moderate Schulz clinched the nomination. A recent poll from Goucher and WYPR found that 82% of Democrats would not vote for Cox, and registered Democrats outnumber registered Republican voters two to one in the state. The Democratic Governors Association spent more than $1 million on ads highlighting Cox’s ties to Trump, in a pitch to sow further division between more moderate GOP voters and the states’ Trump base. How much Democrats really helped Cox is up for debate – and he’s certainly reluctant to admit that the opposing party had anything to do with his primary victory.

Hogan, for his part, was blunt, telling WBAL that Cox’s victory was “a big win for the Democratic Governors Association.”

Despite holding the majority of voters in the state, Democrats have failed to put one of their own in the governorship since Martin O’Malley in 2010. Term-limited Hogan has been widely popular in the state, frequently boasting high approval numbers.