The good thing in your comparison is we just had a Republican Governor for 8 years and we’re still lightyears better than Missouri!

The Baltimore-Washington area as a whole is pretty good for what you’re looking for. There’s decent variety in communities throughout the area that you will probably be able to find the type of place you like (I mean vibewise - dense downtowns, rowhouses on rowhouses, detached homes in cities, suburbs, rural areas, waterfront towns, small towns from the Bay to the foothills) and all of those are decently close to the cores of both cities. In fact, Baltimore and DC‘s central train stations are less than 40 miles from each other and have a bunch of different trains that can get you between the cities in 35-50 minutes. (Also I might as well mention here something that’s rare elsewhere but plentiful here: free museums. Baltimore’s big two art museums are free as are all the Smithsonian museums in DC.)

There are plenty of things to complain about Baltimore (crime worries, very humid summers, dreams of a better transit system), but if you’re looking at it as a region and not just a city then I think you’ll find a lot in common and a lot you’ll like. If you want to live in the city proper and are worried about crime then do research on neighborhoods - just like any city, there are better and worse areas.