Wes Moore

Westley Watende Omari Moore (born October 15, 1978) is an American politician, businessman, author, and former U.S. Army officer serving as the 63rd governor of Maryland since 2023.

Moore was born in Maryland and raised primarily in New York. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and received a master's degree from Wolfson College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. After several years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, he became an investment banker in New York. Between 2010 and 2015, Moore published five books, including a young-adult novel. He served as CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation from 2017 to 2021. Moore authored '' The Other Wes Moore'' and ''The Work.'' He also hosted ''Beyond Belief'' on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), and was executive producer and a writer for ''Coming Back with Wes Moore'' on PBS.

Moore is a member of the Democratic Party. He won the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, becoming Maryland's first African-American governor and the third African-American person elected governor of any U.S. state.

Early life and education

Moore was born in Takoma Park, Maryland in 1978, to William Westley Moore Jr., a broadcast news journalist, and Joy Thomas Moore, a daughter of immigrants from Cuba and Jamaica, and a news media professional.

On April 16, 1982, when Moore was three years old, his father died of acute epiglottitis. In the summer of 1984, Moore's mother took him and his two sisters to live in the Bronx, New York, with her parents. His occasional babysitter was Kamala Harris' stepmother, Carol Kirlew. His maternal grandfather, James Thomas, a Jamaican immigrant, was the first black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church. His grandmother, Winell Thomas, a Cuban who moved to Jamaica before immigrating to the U.S., was a retired schoolteacher. Moore attended Riverdale Country School. When his grades declined and he became involved in petty crime, his mother enrolled him in Valley Forge Military Academy and College.

In 1998, Moore graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge with an associate degree, completed the requirements for the United States Army's early commissioning program, and was appointed a second lieutenant of Military Intelligence in the Army Reserve. He then attended Johns Hopkins University, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in international relations and economics in 2001. At Johns Hopkins, he also played wide receiver for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football team for two seasons and was initiated into the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, and Sigma Sigma Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. In 1998 and 1999, Moore interned for Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. He later became involved with the March of Dimes before serving in the Army. He also interned at the United States Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Tom Ridge.

After graduating, he attended Wolfson College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned a master's degree in international relations in 2004 and submitted a thesis titled ''Rise and Ramifications of Radical Islam in the Western Hemisphere''. He was activated in the Army following the September 11 attacks, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2006, attaining the rank of captain while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the Army in 2014.

Career

In February 2006, Moore was named a White House Fellow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He later worked as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in Manhattan and at Citibank from 2007 to 2012 while living in Jersey City, New Jersey. In 2009, Moore was included on Crain’s New York Business's "40 Under 40" list.

In 2010, Moore founded a television production company, Omari Productions, to create content for networks such as the Oprah Winfrey Network, PBS, HBO, and NBC. In May 2014, he produced a three-part PBS series, ''Coming Back with Wes Moore'', which followed the lives and experiences of returning veterans.

In 2014, Moore founded BridgeEdU, a company that provided services to support students in their transition to college. Students participating in BridgeEdU paid $500 into the program with varying fees. BridgeEdU was not able to achieve financial stability and was acquired by student financial services company Edquity in 2019, mostly for its database of clients. A ''Baltimore Banner'' interview with former BridgeEdU students found that the short-lived company had mixed results. Moore was the commencement speaker at Utah Valley University's class of 2014 graduation ceremony.

In September 2016, Moore produced ''All the Difference'', a PBS documentary that followed the lives of two young African-American men from the South Side of Chicago from high school through college and beyond. Later that month, he launched ''Future City'', an interview-based talk show with Baltimore's WYPR station.

From June 2017 until May 2021, Moore was CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization that attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City. It works mainly through funding schools, food pantries and shelters. It also administers a disaster relief fund. During his tenure as CEO, the organization also raised more than $650 million, including $230 million in 2020 to provide increased need for assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moore also sought to expand his advocacy to include America's poor and transform the organization into a national force in the poverty fight. Moore served on Under Armour's board of directors from September 2020 to November 2022, resigning from the board shortly after becoming governor-elect.

Books

On April 27, 2010, Spiegel & Grau published his first book, '' The Other Wes Moore''. The 200-page book explores the lives of two young Baltimore boys who shared the same name and race, but largely different familial histories that leads them both down very different paths. In December 2012, Moore announced that ''The Other Wes Moore'' would be developed into a feature film, with Oprah Winfrey attached as an executive producer. In September 2013, Ember published his second book, ''Discovering Wes Moore''. The book maintains the message and story set out in ''The Other Wes Moore'', but is more accessible to young adults. In April 2021, Unanimous Media announced it would adapt ''The Other Wes Moore'' into a feature film. As of June 2022, a film has yet to be produced.

In January 2015, Moore wrote his third book, ''The Work''. In November 2016, he wrote ''This Way Home'', a young adult novel about Elijah, a high school basketball player, who emerges from a standoff with a local gang after they attempt to recruit him to their basketball team, and he refuses. In March 2020, Moore and former ''Baltimore Sun'' education reporter Erica L. Green wrote ''Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City'', which explores the 2015 Baltimore protests from the perspectives of eight Baltimoreans who experienced it on the front lines.

Political activities

Moore first expressed interest in politics in June 1996, telling a ''New York Times'' reporter that he planned to attend law school and enter politics after two years at Valley Forge. He told ''The Baltimore Sun'' in October 2022 that he felt the idea of holding elected office "only started to feel like a real possibility in 2020, when he was about to leave his job running Robin Hood".

Moore gave a speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, supporting Barack Obama for president. 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 said that he considered choosing Moore as his running mate in the 2014 Maryland gubernatorial election, in which he ran with state delegate Jolene Ivey.

In April 2015, following the 2015 Baltimore protests, Moore said that the demonstrations in Baltimore were a "long time coming" and that Baltimore "must seize this moment to redress systemic problems and grow." Moore attended the funeral for Freddie Gray but left early to catch a plane to Boston for a speech he was giving on urban poverty. He later said he "felt guilty being away, but it wasn't just that. An audience in Boston would listen to me talk about poverty, but at a historic moment in my own city's history, I was ." On the eighth anniversary of Gray's death in April 2023, Moore made a tweet calling his death a turning point for not just those who knew Gray personally, but the entire city.

In February 2017, Governor Larry Hogan nominated Moore to serve on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. In October 2020, Moore was named to serve on the transition team of Baltimore mayor-elect Brandon Scott. In January 2021, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Adrienne A. Jones consulted with Moore to craft her "black agenda" to tackle racial inequalities in housing, health, banking, government, and private corporations.

Controversies

In June 2013, a ''Baltimore Sun'' investigation alleged that Moore was improperly receiving homestead property tax credits and owed back taxes to the city of Baltimore. Moore told ''The Sun'' that he was unaware of any issues with the home's taxes and wanted to pay what he owed immediately. In October 2022, Baltimore Brew reported that Moore had not paid any water and sewage charges since March 2021, owing $21,200 to the city of Baltimore. Moore settled his outstanding bills shortly after the article was published.

In April 2022, the family of Baltimore County Police Sergeant Bruce Prothero, whose murder in 2000 is highlighted in ''The Other Wes Moore'', accused Moore of making contradictory statements about where the proceeds of the book went, saying that the family "directed no donations" to anywhere, including the nonprofits Moore named. The family also complained that Moore exaggerated his role in their son's life.

Moore was the subject of a CNN article in which he was accused of embellishing his childhood and where he actually grew up. Shortly after the article was published, Moore created a website that attempted to rebut the allegations. He was later criticized for failing to correct television interviewers who incorrectly said he received the Bronze Star Medal during interviews. In August 2024, ''The New York Times'' reported that Moore had falsely claimed that he was awarded the Bronze Star for his military service in his 2006 application for a White House fellowship, which he said was an "honest mistake" and that his commanding officer, Michael R. Fenzel, suggested he should do it, believing that Moore had earned it and was going through the paperwork to process it, and expressed remorse for the error and for failing to correct interviewers. Fenzel also told the ''New York Times'' that Moore initially objected to mentioning the Bronze Star in his application, but included it after he told Moore that he and others approved the medal and that the paperwork would be processed by the time his fellowship began. Fenzel said that he would resubmit the paperwork so that Moore could be awarded a Bronze Star the week that the ''New York Times'' published their article about Moore's application. Moore was finally awarded a Bronze Star Medal in December 2024.

A Capital News Service article highlighted Moore's connections to various industries, including pharmaceutical, technology, beauty and retail giants, and the Green Thumb Industries cannabis company. Moore left Green Thumb Industries in March 2022, and said in October that he would use a blind trust to hold his assets and resign from every board position if elected governor. In May 2023, Moore finalized his trust, making him the first governor to have one since Bob Ehrlich. In May 2025, after similar conflict of interest concerns were raised about former governor Larry Hogan during his 2024 U.S. Senate campaign, Moore signed into law a bill requiring future governors to put their assets into a blind trust or sign an agreement not to participate in decisions affecting their businesses.

Governor of Maryland

2022 election

In February 2021, Moore announced he was considering a run for governor of Maryland in the 2022 election. He launched his campaign on June 7, 2021, emphasizing "work, wages, and wealth" and running on the slogan "leave no one behind". His running mate was Aruna Miller, a former state delegate who represented Maryland's 15th district from 2010 to 2019.

During the primary, Moore was endorsed by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Prince George's County executive Angela Alsobrooks, television host Oprah Winfrey, and former Governor Parris Glendening. He also received backing from the Maryland State Education Association and VoteVets.org.

On April 6, 2022, Moore filed a complaint with the Maryland State Board of Elections against the gubernatorial campaign of John King Jr., accusing "an unidentified party" of anonymously disseminating "false and disparaging information regarding Wes Moore via electronic mail and social media in an orchestrated attempt to disparage Mr. Moore and damage his candidacy." The complaint also suggested that King "may be responsible for this smear campaign", which the King campaign denied. In April 2024, King's campaign was fined $2,000 after prosecutors connected the email address to an IP address used by Joseph O'Hearn, King's campaign manager.

Moore won the Democratic primary on July 19, 2022, defeating former Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez and Comptroller Peter Franchot with 32.4% of the vote. During the general election, Moore twice campaigned with U.S. President Joe Biden. He also campaigned on reclaiming "patriotism" from Republicans, highlighting his service in the U.S. Army while also bringing attention to Republican nominee and state delegate Dan Cox's participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Moore defeated Cox in the general election, and became Maryland's first black governor and the first veteran to be elected governor since William Donald Schaefer.

In December 2022, Moore was elected to serve as finance chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

Tenure

Moore was sworn in on January 18, 2023. He took the oath of office on a Bible owned by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, as well as his grandfather's Bible. The morning before his inauguration, Moore participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial at the Annapolis City Dock to "acknowledge the journey" that led to him becoming the third elected black governor in U.S. history. Later that night, he held a celebratory event at the Baltimore Convention Center.

As governor, Moore testified for several of his administration's bills, making him the first governor to do so since Martin O'Malley. During his first term, his legislative priorities included establishing a "service year option" for high school graduates, removing regulations around new housing development, and supporting military families through health care benefits, tax cuts, and employment opportunities. He has also sought to undo or revise many of his predecessor's decisions, including the cancellation of the Baltimore Red Line, the withholding of state funding for training abortion care providers, and plans to expand portions of the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270 using high-occupancy toll lanes.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse occurred during Moore's tenure, after which he supported and signed into law legislation to provide financial assistance to workers and businesses affected by the subsequent closure of the Port of Baltimore. Following the disaster, Moore has urged Congress to pass legislation that would have the federal government cover the costs of rebuilding the bridge. In December 2024, President Joe Biden signed into law a continuing resolution bill that included a provision to fully fund the Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement.

Cabinet

Moore began announcing nominations for his 26-member cabinet on November 14, 2022. He finished announcing his cabinet nominees on April 12, 2023, with the nomination of Sanjay Rai as Secretary for the Maryland Higher Education Commission. According to ''The Baltimore Banner'', Moore assembled his cabinet at a slower pace than previous Maryland governors.

Twelve of Moore's cabinet nominees are women and 14 are people of color. His nominees have mixed experience in government, social entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. Three of them, Secretary of Emergency Management Russell Strickland, Maryland State Police superintendent Roland Butler, and Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services Carolyn Scruggs, are holdovers from the Hogan administration.

As his chief of staff, Moore chose Fagan Harris, who co-founded the Baltimore Corps organization with Moore a decade ago. Moore also named three members of the Maryland General Assembly to his administration: state senator Paul G. Pinsky as Director of the Maryland Energy Administration; state senator Susan C. Lee as Secretary of State; and House of Delegates Majority Leader Eric Luedtke as chief legislative officer. Other notable Cabinet nominations included Salisbury mayor Jacob R. Day as Secretary of Housing and Community Development, former New York City Department of Correction commissioner Vincent Schiraldi as Secretary of Juvenile Services, Anthony Woods as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and former WMATA general manager Paul Wiedefeld as Secretary of Transportation.

All but two of Moore's cabinet nominees were unanimously confirmed by the Maryland Senate: Schiraldi, who faced opposition from Republicans over his policies toward juvenile justice reform; and Butler, whose critics claimed had not done enough to address complaints of racism and disparate treatment of black officers in the Maryland State Police.

Personal life

Moore met Dawn Flythe in Washington, D.C. in 2002. They moved to the Riverside community in Baltimore in 2006. The couple eloped in Las Vegas while he was on a brief leave from Afghanistan and were married by an Elvis impersonator. Their official wedding ceremony was held on July 6, 2007. They have two children, born in 2011 and 2013.

In late 2008, the Moores moved from Riverside to Guilford, where they lived until Moore's election as governor in 2022. From 2015 to 2023, he attended services at the Southern Baptist Church in east Baltimore. They reside in Government House, the official residence of the Maryland governor and First Family in Annapolis, Maryland.

Moore holds honorary degrees from Skidmore College, Lincoln University, and the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution; his ancestor Prince Ames served in the Massachusetts Militia in the Revolutionary War.

Moore is a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Knicks.

Military decorations and badges

Moore's decorations and medals include:

Electoral history

Bibliography

* ''The other Wes Moore : one name, two fates'', New York : Spiegel & Grau, 2010.
* ''Discovering Wes Moore : My Story'', New York : Ember (Random House), 2013.
* ''The work : searching for a life that matters'', New York : Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
*Wes Moore; Shawn Goodman, ''This way home,'' New York : Delacorte Press, 2015.
* Wes Moore; Erica L Green, ''Five days : the fiery reckoning of an American city'', New York : One World, 2020.

See also

*List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

Notes

References

External links

The Office of Governor Wes Moore
official government website
Wes Moore for Maryland
campaign website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Wes

1978 births
Living people
21st-century African-American businesspeople
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Alumni of Wolfson College, Oxford
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