Maryland Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox responded on Tuesday night to a Jewish Insider report exposing his son’s past antisemitic social media posts, calling the story a “travesty” and accusing Democrats of pushing the issue into the campaign while stating he “absolutely” disagrees with his son’s views.

Cox, who served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2019 to 2023 and unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022, is the Republican nominee challenging Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in the November election.

Responding to a JI scoop on his son’s antisemitic social media posts, Dan Cox called the story a “travesty” and accused Democrats of pushing the issue into the campaign while stating he “absolutely” disagrees with his son’s views. Read more: https://t.co/oUFCNckDZT https://t.co/NB5t3RtiGq

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) October 7, 2026

Cox’s comments came one day after JI reported that his son, Josiah Cox, had posted a series of antisemitic messages on Facebook. The posts included predictions that “Israel will fall,” descriptions of Jews as “scum who killed my savior Jesus” and the “Synagogue of Satan,” and claims that Jewish customs “disgust” him and that Jewish people are “pedophiles” who “slaughter innocents all around the world.”

Asked about the report in an interview with Fox 45 Baltimore on Tuesday night, Cox initially dismissed the story as a Democratic attack and criticized the decision to bring his family into the issue.

“I think it’s an absolute travesty that that [the article] was done and brought up and bringing family in, that’s ridiculous,” Cox said. “That was the Democrats that did that.”

Asked whether he agreed with his son’s statements, Cox said, “I absolutely do not!” 

But while Cox rejected his son’s views, he pointed to his son’s response to the controversy as a reason to move past the issue, noting the younger Cox’s decision to apologize and remove the posts.

“I called him [my son] up and expressed my sincere upsetness about it,” Cox said. “And to his credit, he apologized and deleted [the posts]. I think at the end of the day, the issues about Maryland are what needs to be talked about because I will represent every Marylander.”