Maryland Gov. Wes Moore sat confidently in the center of a restored seafood packing house in Cambridge, fielding questions during a “town hall” event that was nationally televised by CBS on Sunday night.

Although Moore is no stranger to TV or the limelight, the broadcast served as one of the biggest stages yet for the Democratic governor to showcase his personality and brand of politics — a valuable moment for a man many believe has national aspirations in 2028.

The event was broadcast under CBS’ “Things That Matter” brand, a series of interviews and town halls with national figures, a signature initiative of the network’s relatively new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.

During the brisk, one-hour event, Moore answered several questions from the audience, including some posed by Democratic activists. One questioner was concerned about vaccine requirements, and another said she left the Democratic Party for the Republicans.

The toughest questions, however, came from host Norah O’Donnell, a senior correspondent for CBS News.

Here are key moments from the broadcast.

Careful words about Trump

O’Donnell opened with a series of questions about President Donald Trump, a Republican who has been increasingly critical of Moore.

Trump reportedly disinvited Moore from a meeting and a dinner with the nation’s governors scheduled for this week, and he skewered Moore in a social media post.

O’Donnell asked Moore if Trump is racist, and the governor chose his words carefully. Moore didn’t repeat the “R” word but made clear he’s not pleased with the president’s words and actions.

“I think that’s a question for President Trump,” Moore said. “I can tell you know how his actions hit Black folks and how they hit people of color.”

The governor offered a message to Trump: “I do want to be clear to the president, respectfully: You do not determine my worthiness. God determines my worthiness. The people of Maryland determine my worthiness. They are who I answer to. Not him.”

Moore even offered a backhanded compliment to the president, noting Trump doesn’t wait for studies or committees before making decisions. Those decisions, Moore said, often have had negative consequences for Marylanders.

Running in 2028?

Seemingly every national media interview of Moore includes a question about whether he is eyeing a presidential run in 2028, and this was no exception.

When Moore did his typical sidestep around the question — “I love my job,” he said more than once — O’Donnell asked who the governor would want to see run.

Moore answered that there’s “a tremendous amount of talent” in the Democratic Party and the nation needs a leader who can heal divisions. He didn’t name names.

Defense of his background

O’Donnell asked Moore about two articles from the conservative website The Free Beacon that cast doubts on his studies at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and about whether his pastor great-grandfather really was run out of South Carolina by the Ku Klux Klan.

Moore dismissed the reports as coming from a “right-wing blog” and defended his telling of his history without going into details. He has a master’s degree from Oxford and said the family story is true.

He suggested to The Free Beacon: “Maybe they should ask the Ku Klux Klan.”

Continuing his redistricting push

Moore defended his push to redraw the boundaries of Maryland’s congressional districts in hopes of helping Democrats sweep all eight seats in this fall’s elections.

And he again made an appeal to the Maryland Senate to approve a map that’s cleared the House of Delegates. Moore said senators have “a democratic duty” to vote on the map.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, who was not mentioned by name, has said he will not bring the map to a vote because it doesn’t have support among the majority of Democratic senators. The Senate doesn’t typically move bills forward that are destined to fail.

Moore said he’ll be OK if his map fails on a vote.

“What I’m not OK with is watching democracy die in the free state,” Moore said.

Playing the hits

The event gave Moore the chance to deploy his snappiest lines, some of which have been workshopped since his initial run for governor. They’re familiar to those who watch Moore’s speeches and appearances on Sunday political talk shows, but they perhaps are new to the national prime time audience of the town hall.

Among the familiar refrains:

On Trump: “I will work with anyone, but I will bow down to no one. But I think the president has a problem with that.”

On improving the Democratic Party: “The Democrats have got to stop being the party of ‘no and slow’ and start being the party of ‘yes and now,’ that everything cannot be a 10-year study, everything cannot be a 15-year analysis.”

On his background: “I come from a family, frankly, used to suffering the consequences of policies and not used to making them.”