“This part of Maryland votes Republican now as does the rest of the state except, and it is a big exception, PG, Montgomery, Baltimore Counties (and maybe Howard County?) and the City of Baltimore. The state is like many (Pennsylvania for instance) with the metro core being Dem and the rest Republican.”
You can add NYS to the list. A lot of people don’t realize that much of NY is Republican and greatly unlike NYC and the urban spots like Rochester and Albany. A lot of NYS is rural, small town, and quite scenic. However, people continue to move out of state leaving a higher percentage of socialists and takers in NYS as a whole.
Denton has grown from 30,000 to 120,000, cost of operations is far lower in Texas than Maryland, as is the cost of living. Then you have the Port of Houston about 6 hours away, and the DFW Airport 30 minutes away, and in a metro area of 8-9 Million.
Maryland is no longer competitive. Neither is NY, CT, etc.