Wes Moore hits campaign trail with a mission: Elect other Black governors

Many see Maryland Gov. Wes Moore building a profile and allies for a future national run as he bounces around the country campaigning for other candidates, raising money and doing media interviews. He’s often mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

But Moore also has a distinct personal mission for some trips, including his latest: electing more Black Democratic governors.

“I am the only African American governor in the country right now, but that’s not a title that I’m proud of,” Moore said in an interview. “I don’t want to hold on to that title for very long.”

Moore’s efforts come at a time when Black political power could be diminished, from the Supreme Court weakening the Voting Rights Act that protected minority congressional districts and President Donald Trump urging Republican-led states eliminate Democrats, many of whom are Black.

Moore is embracing a mantle that he’s inherited as the only Black governor, said Jason Johnson, a professor of politics and journalism at Morgan State University.

“Wes Moore is doing this because he cares, because it’s strategic and because it was going to be his job whether he chose it or not,” said Johnson, who is also an MS NOW contributor.

How successful Moore is as a campaigner for other gubernatorial candidates depends on where he goes and who he speaks with — it has to be a good fit, Johnson said. So it makes sense that the governor is campaigning in places receptive to smart, charismatic, Black elected officials, he said.

“The people who are inviting Wes Moore to come talk and raise money for them are people in states where they know the Wes Moore brand will work,” Johnson said.

Moore spent Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta kicking off a canvass for Keisha Lance Bottoms, the city’s former mayor who is running for governor. Next week he’ll be in Nevada, boosting that state’s attorney general, Aaron Ford, who is also running for governor.

Both Bottoms and Ford are in highly competitive races for governor, trying to flip the seats to the Democrats. If successful, they’d join Moore in rare company as Black governors.

But it would also put them in a position to return a favor in 2028: Both Georgia and Nevada are members of the small swing state group that decide the presidency.

Moore has his own reelection campaign to focus on this year, but he faces a rematch against Republican Dan Cox, who he steamrolled by more than a 30-point margin in 2022.

With lighter work on the campaign trail at home, the governor is freed more to help out-of-state allies.

Time and again, when Moore is introduced to audiences as Maryland’s first Black governor or the nation’s third elected Black governor, he receives warm applause.

“But I’m like: That’s not an applause line,” Moore said. “There’s something indicting about that.”

In a nation that’s existed for 250 years, now with 50 states, Moore said it’s “crazy” that there have only been three elected Black governors.

Moore walks a careful line in promoting diversity in the gubernatorial ranks while making clear that race is only one part of the equation.

“I’m excited for them because they, like I, understand their job is not to make history,” Moore said. “Their job is to make sure they’re making a difference in the lives of people who they’re supporting.”

Moore said he’s known Ford for about a decade, after the two were in a fellowship program together. He got to know Bottoms when she worked in President Joe Biden’s administration after her tenure as Atlanta mayor.

Speaking to reporters in Atlanta Tuesday, Moore said: “The reason I am supporting Keisha is not just because she happens to be an African American candidate for governor. I think she would be an outstanding governor.”

The governor also campaigned this week for South Carolina Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Jermaine Johnson. Johnson, a state legislator, faces an uphill battle as most pundits have rated the South Carolina governor’s race as a safe set for Republicans to retain.

Like Georgia and Nevada, South Carolina has a history of playing a key role on the road the the White House. It’s the first presidential primary where Black people, a decisive group of Democratic voters, are the majority. Wins in South Carolina by Biden in 2020 and former President Barack Obama in 2008 propelled both to the nomination.

Moore found some of his inspiration for supporting other candidates from Deval Patrick, former Democratic governor of Massachusetts who was only the second elected Black governor in the nation’s history.

The night before Moore’s 2023 inauguration, Patrick told Moore about one of his regrets: As the second elected Black governor, “I didn’t start thinking about the third until after I left office.”

“That really resonated with me,” Moore said. “I remember saying to myself at that point that I didn’t want to do that.”

Patrick, who periodically meets with Moore and has offered advice, said some talented Black leaders may hesitate to go for a position like governor, given the heightened scrutiny cast on candidates of color.

“It’s a big thing for a lot of Black people to think about running for the chief executive job,” said Patrick, who led Massachusetts from 2007 through 2015.

“Things that go wrong — and they always do, no matter what — seem inflated sometimes,” said Patrick. “Like it’s going to reflect on everybody who looks like me … You’re super sensitive to that.”

Looking back, Patrick said he wishes he had worked to convince more “ambitious Black leaders” to run for governor.

Patrick said he’s proud that Moore is “stepping up” for gubernatorial candidates.

“There’s political power in showing up for people,” he said.