Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has spent 1 in 5 days of his term in other states

Gov. Wes Moore has spent at least a portion of one in every five days in other states since he took office in 2023 — and that pace of travel has accelerated as his national profile has grown, according to a Banner analysis.

A man on the move, Moore has visited at least 27 states, often for political business in addition to travel directly related to his duties as governor. He has rubbed elbows with executives at “billionare summer camp” in Idaho, wooed Democrats in the early primary state of South Carolina and raised money in the wealthy Massachusetts enclaves of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Since January 2025, he has been in other states at a rate of about one in four days, or 25% of his time. The rate doesn’t include his regular travel to Washington or the roughly four weeks when Moore traveled internationally, whether for state business, such as a trade mission in Asia, or for personal travel, such as a brief vacation in Italy.

The Banner’s analysis is based on a review of calendars obtained through public records requests and publicly available details about Moore’s travels. All told, the governor has spent at least 270 full or partial days in other states since taking office.

Moore’s office objected to the inclusion of partial days, of which there are more than 110 in The Banner’s analysis. Partial days include a range of travel. For example, a day on which the governor took an early flight from California and was back in Annapolis before lunch, and a day on which he woke up in New York, came to Maryland for an event and then returned to New York that evening, are both counted as partial days.

Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Moore, called The Banner’s analysis “incorrect and incomplete.”

“It treats any day the governor has spent away from Maryland as a ‘day out of state,’ including countless days when he also worked in Maryland,” Moussa said. “Your methodology treats partial travel days as full days away and, in doing so, is sloppy and inaccurate.”

The frequent jet-setting comes as Moore is rising in national Democratic circles. Though he has said he doesn’t plan to run for president in 2028, he has made trips to key primary states such as Georgia, Nevada and Michigan and is a fixture in national media, often working media appearances into his New York trips.

Some critics wonder if Moore, who is widely expected to coast to a second term in November, is preoccupied with lining up his next job. Labor leaders and a few fellow state Democrats have questioned whether he is paying enough attention to Maryland’s needs.

“I hope that the administration sees the need to focus on the here and now and what’s happening in Maryland, as opposed to what’s happening on the national stage,” Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Maryland, which represents state workers, said at a news conference in early August.

Governors on the rise have long faced the question of how to balance their time. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, often discussed as a 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, has been out of state about 20% of his second term, a Bay Area News Group analysis found, a pace comparable to Moore’s. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, spent about 72% of 2015 out of state while he was running for president, according to his administration’s figures.

Moore insists he takes no days off and is always working for the people of Maryland, whether he’s in the Free State or elsewhere. He said his out-of-state travel has been “in no way a distraction” when it comes to performing his duties.

“I’m the governor of Maryland no matter where I am,” he said. “Even when you take a day to go and support democracy or support a candidate who you believe in, you know, we’re still constantly on the phone with our cabinet secretaries and our agency heads and still doing the work of the people’s business.”

Some union leaders — typically allies of Maryland Democrats — have a different assessment. Both AFSCME and D.C. AFL-CIO, a subset of the largest federation of labor unions in the country, declined to endorse Moore this year in the Democratic primary, despite endorsing virtually every other key Democrat in the state and having endorsed Moore in 2022.

Another union representing airport workers, Maryland Unite Here Local 7, started a “Poor Because of Moore” campaign over what its members say has been inaction from the administration to force higher wages from concessionaires at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Local 7 President Tracy Lingo, also a vice president of the state AFL-CIO, said in an interview she can’t tell if Moore doesn’t care about working Marylanders’ needs or if he’s too preoccupied in his pursuit for national office.

“In the absence of them telling me which of those two things it is, I think assuming he’s too busy running for president is the nicer of the two,” Lingo said.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, who has sparred with Moore repeatedly this year, told Fox45 in June that he thought “the governor’s focused on a lot of things outside of Maryland at times.”

“That’s something we’re gonna have to navigate moving forward,” Ferguson said.

Polls show Moore has robust voter support in Maryland as he seeks a second term in November.

An independent poll released last week found Moore’s in-state approval rating was 56%, up from this time last year. It also found voters think more favorably of the governor than the Democratic Party as an institution, a testament to his likability, said Adam Carlson, founding partner of Zenith Research, which conducted the poll on behalf of Blended Public Affairs and the Perry Jacobson lobbying firm.

“If nothing is on fire and nothing is really a major issue for [voters] right now at a state level, I think they’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Carlson said of voters’ perceptions of Moore’s travel.

Moore’s Republican opponent in his reelection campaign, Dan Cox, is the same person he drubbed in 2022.

Given that, Moore has been crisscrossing the country to help elect more Democratic governors.

This summer, he stumped for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan.

Last year, Moore was warmly received when he campaigned to elect New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger. He also attended Spanberger’s January inauguration. In 2024, Moore was in demand to campaign for then-President Joe Biden and later for Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out.

Moore has also traveled in his roles with the National Governors Association. He recently became the nonpartisan group’s chair, after a stint as its vice chair.

Other trips have combined political events with official tasks. In South Carolina last summer, he toured local businesses in hopes of luring investment to Maryland after speaking at a state Democratic Party fundraiser to great applause and appearing at a fish fry with influential U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn.

Regardless of whether Moore is traveling on state business or political business, he’s accompanied by Maryland State Police troopers who provide security. The cost to send troopers on Moore’s trips to D.C., other states and other countries topped $1.1 million for his first three years in office, according to records from the state police.

Moore isn’t the only Maryland governor to have traveled extensively. Former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, was a frequent flyer during his last year in office in 2022, when he was feeling out a potential presidential run. Security for Hogan’s travels during the first nine months of 2022 cost about $266,000, adjusted for inflation.

And former Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat who ran for president in 2016, drew criticism for traveling out of state frequently during his second term.

There isn’t a way to directly compare Moore’s schedule to the previous governors because their calendars aren’t readily available.

Some of the governor’s in-state allies see Moore’s political travel as an attempt to boost Maryland.

State Sen. Antonio Hayes, a Baltimore Democrat, pointed out that the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration have had significant negative impact on Maryland’s economy and workforce. By boosting Democrats around the country, Moore is trying to help elect people who can undo some of that pain.

“There’s too much on the line nationally for any Democrat, and especially a Democrat that’s had the type of appeal that our governor’s had, to just sit back and say, OK, I’m just going to deal with the issues in my state,” Hayes said.

David Lublin, chair of American University’s government department, said Moore would reasonably be in demand around the country because of his talent as a speaker and his charisma.

Although Moore denies he is running for president, traveling to other states and testing his message with other audiences can’t hurt and may be seen as a sort of exploratory effort if he later decides to run. It’s a bonus if the candidates he supports win their elections, because they will likely show favor to the people who helped them get into office, Lublin said.

But, Lublin cautioned, Moore will likely need to produce more results for Maryland if he runs for higher office.

“He obviously has some things to say,” Lublin said. “The question is whether he has accomplishments to back them up.”