Maryland is often promoted as “America in Miniature,” a phrase first coined 85 years ago. It’s an acknowledgment not only of the state’s diverse geography from mountains to waterfront (lacking only a desert) but its diverse population and economy as well as its important role in U.S. history. Yet rarely has the state felt less representative of the rest of the nation than it does today.

Where Maryland voters embraced diversity, reproductive rights and generational change on Election Day, a majority of Americans have made the opposite choice, reelecting Donald Trump, the man whose Supreme Court appointments caused Roe v. Wade to be overturned, whose campaign rallies commonly featured racist and sexist attacks and who will soon become the first convicted felon to be returned to the nation’s highest office.

Perhaps no other state feels this sense of inconsistency and apartness more acutely. In backing Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, 53, to succeed retiring 81-year-old Ben Cardin in the U.S. Senate, Free State voters made history. She is the first Black woman to represent Maryland in the Senate, one of only a handful to ever be elected to the august post. And on the same ballot, Marylanders overwhelmingly supported protecting abortion rights through a constitutional amendment. And, of course, they voted for Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket by one of the greatest margins of any state. America in Miniature? How about America in Opposite?

Only in the squeaker of a 6th Congressional District race where Democrat April McClain Delaney maintained a mere 315-vote lead Wednesday morning over Republican Neil Parrott with thousands of votes yet to be tallied do Maryland Republicans have any remaining chance to score a meaningful victory, one that might in some small way reflect Trump’s popularity elsewhere or GOP wins in the U.S. Senate that will soon hand the party a majority.

Trump’s election will likely have adverse consequences for Maryland and particularly for Baltimore, a city for which he demonstrated considerable disdain the last time he occupied the Oval Office. In the short term, Trump’s return underscores the need to secure funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement in the lame-duck session, preferably before Thanksgiving when it might be attached to emergency hurricane relief funding. In the longer term, it raises serious doubts about whether Gov. Wes Moore can secure needed federal aid including for the Red Line in Baltimore, let alone make progress on gun safety legislation. Maryland’s economy may also soon take a major hit if Trump lays off thousands of senior federal employees, presumably including the Woodlawn-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as threatened by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

Nevertheless, the obstacles ahead should not deter Marylanders from celebrating the history-making win by Alsobrooks. One year ago, she seemed like a longshot. Many thought U.S. Rep. David Trone with his considerable wealth and willingness to spend it on his own political campaigns would beat her in the Democratic primary. He lost by 11 points. And then there was Maryland’s former two-term Republican governor who left office with a record approval rating. Larry Hogan may have been a Republican running in a Democratic-leaning state but he had wisely set himself up as a Trump critic who put people ahead of party.

Hogan’s campaign was foiled — by his party affiliation, by bad timing, by his evolving views on abortion rights and, perhaps, by his unwillingness to fully commit to political neutrality. Here’s a “What if?” question for future graduate students in political science: What if Hogan had endorsed Harris for president and thus fully committed himself to the role of candidate-above-politics? His refusal to even commit to casting a ballot for her, despite his lambasting of Trump, left voters with a peculiar cognitive dissonance as in: “Wait, I’m supposed to split the ticket (voting for a Democratic president but Republican senator) but Larry Hogan isn’t willing to do the same?”

Still, if it’s any comfort, Marylanders can appreciate they are far from the only people left scratching their heads by the American electorate’s choices. The vice president had a difficult task in her shortened campaign after President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection just months before Election Day. Yet she broke fundraising records, saw her popularity rise dramatically and clearly bested Trump in their single televised debate. And now residents of the Old Line State will face a new challenge: To weather the storms ahead, to do our best to support our country despite its deeply flawed commander in chief, and to (and this may prove the most challenging of all) not immediately announce aloud, “I told you so,” when the inevitable national crises arise.