Maryland Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Wes Moore (Democrat), Dan Cox (Republican), Andy Ellis (Green) and Cathy White (Working Class) are the candidates for governor of Maryland in the November 3, 2026 general election. Wes Moore is the incumbent. Semblen has analyzed 34 ads in this race; 21 used at least one manipulation technique, most often glittering generalities and loaded language.
Wes Moore (DEM, incumbent), Dan Cox (REP), Andy Ellis (GRE), Cathy White (WCP).
On the ballot as listed by Maryland State Board of Elections, 2026 certified general election ballot. 34 ads analyzed, 21 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.
5 of 6 flagged · Glittering Generalities (3), Loaded Language (3), Appeal to Prejudice (2)
Reported Meta spend
$4,100–23,603 on all ads, $2,500–14,776 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“put our students, educators, and schools first” — Glittering Generalities, paid for by The MSEA Fund for Children and Public Education
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
Embed this race on your site
A small box with these findings and the newest ads, updated as new ads are analyzed. Free for newsrooms, blogs and campaigns alike; it links back here.
Follow the Maryland Governor race
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 44% of ads.
The words doing the work
The words that show up most in phrases our model flagged as loaded language or name calling in this race's ads, by number of ads.
MAGAin 3 ads· e.g. “MAGA extremist Dan Cox”, “MAGA allies”
Semblen is free to read and has no ads. If this page was useful, you can support it.
Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Maryland's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
34 ads, newest first. Video transcripts are shown as the model read them, without caption cues like [music].
Showing the 1 ad paid for by FLOWERS FOR MARYLAND. Show all 34 ads
Paid for by FLOWERS FOR MARYLANDfrom 2026-09-16 to 2026-09-20spend $0–992,000–2,999 impressions
Great Pizza. Better People. Team Berney joined our friend Dan Cox in Columbia for his Howard County Meet & Greet at Grotto Pizza—and what a night! Great conversation with Nick Krop, Valerie Cox, Bob Cockey, Lisa Kim, Chuck Linton, Dominic Martin, and a whole room full of patriots and friends. Even a couple of Baltimore Banner reporters stopped by! I had a blast talking politics and current events. But here's the bottom line: COMMON SENSE IS UNDER ATTACK IN MARYLAND. Dan and I are in the fight—and with around 50 days to go, we need YOU.
👉 Share this post.
👉 Talk to your friends and neighbors.
👉 Help us get the message out.
👉 Support the campaign if you can.
We don't need more liberal nonsense. We need common sense. We need courage. We need action. LET'S GET ’R DONE! Check out the pics—and SHARE them! #wcbm #WBAL #WMAL #fox45 #flowersformaryland
Name Calling: The phrase 'liberal nonsense' uses a derogatory label to dismiss a political group without engaging their arguments — for example: liberal nonsense
Loaded Language: The word 'nonsense' is emotionally charged and dismissive, designed to trigger contempt rather than convey factual information — for example: liberal nonsense
Glittering Generalities: The phrase 'common sense' is a vague, emotionally positive term used as rhetorical flourish without any specific policy substance — for example: common sense and We need courage.
False Urgency: The call for 'action' without specifics creates a sense of urgency designed to bypass deliberation — for example: We need action and LET'S GET 'R DONE!.
Bandwagon Appeal: The directive to 'SHARE them!' pressures readers to spread the message by implying collective participation is expected — for example: SHARE them!
Name Calling
Loaded Language
Glittering Generalities
False Urgency
Bandwagon Appeal
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in MD and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names MD's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
Get notified as this improves — new detection models, the browser
extension, and new features. Occasional email, no spam.
Semblen LLC · 5900 Balcones Drive STE 100, Austin, TX 78731 · unsubscribe any time