Moore revs up reelection campaign at Baltimore, Prince George’s events

With a circle of American flags overhead and a deafening roar of approval from the crowd, Gov. Wes Moore flashed a peace sign and bounded onstage at Baltimore’s B&O Railroad Museum to launch his reelection campaign into high gear Saturday afternoon.

“How’s it going, Maryland?” Moore shouted with a wide grin. “I am so happy to see y’all.”

Shirtsleeves rolled up, Moore gradually built the museum crowd’s energy as he made his case for four more years leading the state. He recalled the spirit of famous Marylanders Harriet Tubman and Thurgood Marshall.

“We’re just built different,” Moore said to cheers. “But we do not just push back. We push forward.”

He promised to continue a “public safety turnaround” in Maryland while growing the economy, improving public schools and rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Moore has several million dollars in the bank and scant Democratic opposition for the June 23 primary. And whoever emerges from the Republican field is unlikely to come close to matching Moore’s money and ability to grab national attention.

Considered a potential presidential contender, Moore could have his campaign scrutinized by those planning to vote in 2026 and beyond.

On the trail, Moore said he plans to highlight the “engagement and excitement” of his supporters.

“They understand what’s at stake in this moment,” Moore said in an interview ahead of his Baltimore rally. “We want to show that this is going to be a state where we are a resilient people, that we are both going to push back against the type of things we’re seeing in Washington, D.C., but we’re also really excited to push forward.”

In Baltimore, residents mingled in a crowd at the railroad museum alongside current, former and aspiring politicians. Singers belted out the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. A lineup of leaders took the microphone to run down alist of reasons to reelect Moore.

A massive blue banner reading “Wes Moore for Maryland” hung behind the stage, and a DJ pumped high-energy tunes through a professional sound system. Placards reading “WES” and “Leave No One Behind” were handed out to audience members.

Moore repeated the scene a few hours later at Prince George’s Community College, where the crowd chanted “Four more years! Four more years!” to drown out a protestor trying to disrupt the speech.

They were the kind of splashy events that take money and manpower.

Moore and running mate Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller began the year with $8 million in their campaign accounts — money they can use to put on rallies, saturate airwaves and internet feeds with ads, and employ an army of staff to spread their message.

Though the campaign is positioned to win because of its money, incumbency and high profile, the governor is not overwhelmingly popular.

For the first time in his three-plus years in office, Moore’s approval rating has dipped below a majority, to 48%, as measured by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Institute of Politics in a March poll.

Moore said he’s not caught up in numbers, noting that, when he started his first campaign for governor in 2021, he was polling in the single digits.

“You know, you never get too high, you never get too low,” Moore said.

Moore said he’s “always very concerned” about his opponents who are trying to keep him from returning to the State House for another four years.

Moore has had challenges as governor: turnover among his cabinet secretaries and top aides, tussles with the federal government over funding, delays in building the Red Line and rebuilding the Key Bridge, raising taxes and fees two years in a row, projected budget gaps looming for several years.

Moore’s team also had to clean up an old problem when it was revealed the governor had previously claimed to hold a Bronze Star from his Army service in Afghanistan. Though he had been recommended for the medal years ago, it never was awarded. Moore was awarded the medal in a private ceremony in 2024.

Those issues could provide an opening for a challenger.

Moore’s only Democratic primary opponent is a doctor from Montgomery County who recently reclaimed his suspended medical license.

A flawed Republican field’s best-known candidates are Dan Cox, a MAGA-aligned former state lawmaker whom Moore defeated in 2022 in the biggest blowout in three decades; and Ed Hale Sr., a soccer team owner and retired banker who was a Democrat until last year.

At Moore’s rally in Baltimore, none of those challenges and none of the challengers was mentioned. Instead, it was a spirited rally hitting the high points of the governor’s first term.

Lizzie Wilkerson, a Federal Hill resident, said she’s been impressed with Moore’s support for Baltimore.

“I’ve really seen him fight for Marylanders and specifically for Baltimore — which I think is a city that historically has been so great and continues to be great, but obviously needs support to reach its fullest potential,” said Wilkerson, a Johns Hopkins researcher heading to medical school in the fall.

“In his first term he’s been offering that support, and I’m really confident he’ll keep offering it in his second term,” she said.

Esther Benjamin, a former Marylander, came from New York City to support Moore’s campaign launch. A leader in public policy organizations, Benjamin said she appreciates Moore’s focus on finding best practices to attack problems from crime to poverty.

Both Benjamin and Wilkerson are looking past 2026 to 2028 and beyond, when they hope Moore will make a splash on the national stage.

“He’s been a great first-term governor,” Benjamin said. “I’m excited to see him reelected, and I’m even more excited to see him step into national roles. 2028 if he chooses, or 2032 — but I definitely want to see him in the national spotlight.”

The confidence is quite a shift from 2022, when Moore started his primary campaign behind more well-known candidates. He waited days after voting ended to find out he had topped a 10-person Democratic field, beating second-place finisher Tom Perez by 2.29 percentage points.

In the general, Moore tallied twice as many votes as Cox.

Moore and his team are pushing to ensure a repeat performance. He asked rally goers in Baltimore not just to vote but to volunteer to knock on doors. He said the base of supporters needs to be not just energized but expanded.

“My philosophy with this race — and my philosophy with life — is that everything is earned,” he said. “Nothing is given.”