Oh, and if secession is the criteria for being Southern, then yes, slave-state Maryland isn’t Southern. But it should be noted that it didn’t secede because Lincoln kept it from seceding by force.
I don’t claim that Maryland is a culturally Southern state, though it’s got elements of Southernness. My main point was that if Steele had been a Democrat, the press would be a lot more eager to claim his campaign as a historic landmark.