Wes Moore seeks second term as Maryland governor

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat born in Takoma Park in Montgomery County, is running for a second term as Maryland's governor in the Nov. 3 general election. He faces three challengers: Dan Cox, a Republican; Steven Ellis of the Green Party; and Cathy White, a Working Class candidate, according to BallotReady.

Moore is Maryland's first Black governor and the third African American elected governor in U.S. history, according to the governor's office website.

Candidate information

Party: Democratic
Residence: Born in Takoma Park, Maryland
Education: Associate's degree, Valley Forge Military Academy and College (1998); bachelor's degree in international relations and economics, Johns Hopkins University (2001); master's degree in international relations and affairs, University of Oxford (2004)
Family: Moore and his wife, First Lady Dawn Flythe Moore, have two children, Mia and James

Moore was the first Black Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa, according to the governor's office.

Experience and public service

Moore served as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1996 to 2006, according to BallotReady. He was a White House Fellow from 2006 to 2007.

His private-sector career includes work as a finance professional at Deutsche Bank, an investment banking professional at Citibank from 2007 to 2012, and an intern in the office of former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, according to the governor's office. Moore founded BridgeEdU, an education startup, and served as its CEO from 2014 to 2019, according to BallotReady. He also served as CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure there, the organization distributed over $600 million toward lifting families out of poverty, according to the governor's office. Moore has been an author with Penguin Random House since 2010.

He has served as governor since 2023.

On the issues

The following positions are drawn from Moore's responses on his campaign website, as compiled by BallotReady. They reflect the candidate's own stated views.

Healthcare: Moore said he will protect funding for community health centers that offer services such as cancer screenings and birth control. He said he supports abortion rights and will fight to protect them as governor.

Transportation: Moore said he supports equity in transportation planning by focusing mass-transit improvements on the people who rely on them most. He said he wants to address the connection between transportation and public health, remove politics from project funding to ensure merit-based decisions and implement procurement reform.

Environment and energy: Moore said he wants Maryland to generate 100% clean energy by 2035 by reducing energy consumption, increasing investments in wind and solar, and investing in battery storage research. He said he supports a government-wide approach in which agencies, local leaders and climate experts work together.

Public safety: Moore said he will combat gun violence by building partnerships across law enforcement agencies, banning ghost guns and investing in community-based violence intervention programs. He also said he would reform Maryland's probation and parole system by filling vacant positions, strengthening supervision of high-risk individuals and connecting people to behavioral health treatment, housing and employment.

Wages and labor: Moore said he supports ensuring every worker has access to paid sick, family and medical leave.