Baltimore is to Maryland as NYC is to upstate NY and Chicago is to downstate. Even Montgomery and PG counties are mostly pretty nice places to live but they are DC bedroom counties full of GSers and federal contractor types who cement the democrat lock in the legislature. The rest of the state is our kind of territory, or at least winnable in a good year, but it’s saddled with LeftWorld taxes, regulations and culture war nonsense driven by the politics of three counties.
My brother lives in Elkton. Lovely place.
I really wish every county from Carroll westward would join West Virgina; and the Eastern Shore might be able to neutralize Delaware by joining it. Then make the NYC-Philly-Wilmington-Baltimore-DC corridor one state, and leave the rest of us alone.