MoCo Native Wes Moore Wins Democratic Nomination for Maryland Governor

Wes Moore has won the Democratic nomination for Maryland Governor, according to several projections. He has defeated former Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez, Maryland comptroller Peter Franchot, former Education Secretary John King, and former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler in the primary and will move on to the General Election against Dan Cox.

Moore is a native of Takoma Park, who grew up in the area until he was 6 years old, moving to New York after his father passed away. He returned to Maryland for college and attended Johns Hopkins University where he studied international relations and economics and graduated Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa in 2001. From 2017 to 2021 Moore served as the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation– a charitable organization which attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City.

In 1998 and 1999, Moore interned for Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. In 2013, he said that he had “no interest” in running for public office, instead focusing on his business and volunteer work. Later that year, Attorney General Doug Gansler, who was also in this primary with Moore, said that he considered having Moore as his running mate in the 2014 Maryland gubernatorial election, in which he ended up running with state Delegate Jolene Ivey.

In February 2021, Moore announced he was “seriously considering” a run for Governor of Maryland in the 2022 election. He launched his gubernatorial campaign on June 7, 2021. His running mate is Aruna Miller, a former state delegate who represented Maryland’s 15th district from 2010 to 2019.