By Adam Pagnucco.
Today, Governor Wes Moore announced his reelection campaign with a YouTube video. In the video, Moore touts his record, attacks President Donald Trump and Washington and lays out his rationale for reelection. His opponent(s) will no doubt argue with his claims that he “inherited a structural budget deficit and turned it into a surplus” and he cut taxes for the middle class (who will be paying higher transportation fees under the recently passed state budget). But that’s the stuff of political campaigns and not reelection videos.
Moore’s best asset is Trump, with whom he spars frequently. The president is abysmally unpopular among Democrats, who accounted for 56% of general election voters in 2022 (when Moore was first elected). Moore’s strategy is simple: attack Trump and hold onto his own party. That’s the political math folks, and if he can do that, he wins. Any opponent – we’re looking at you, Larry Hogan – would have to cobble together a fragile coalition of Republicans, unaffiliated voters and disgruntled Democrats. That’s not easy to do in these polarized times.
The video and transcript appear below.
What’s going on, Maryland?
So listen, when I launched my campaign for governor four years ago, I had never run for political office before. My background is I’m an Army combat veteran and I ran one of the largest poverty fighting organizations in this country. So I traveled the state and I listened to your stories, and I shared mine. And we all saw the same thing, that these career politicians had been telling us that everything was great when we knew that it wasn’t.
So we came into office with bold ideas and a new sense of urgency. We inherited a structural budget deficit and turned it into a surplus. Our unemployment rate was one of the nation’s highest and now it is one of the nation’s lowest. We cut taxes for veterans and cut taxes for the middle class. We declared that violent crime can’t and won’t be tolerated in our state. And now homicides in Baltimore are the lowest they have been in 50 years. And when crisis hit and the Key Bridge collapsed, we rallied. And they said it would take 11 months to reopen the Port of Baltimore and we got it done in 11 weeks.
But while we stand up for middle class Marylanders, the president of the United States is bending over backwards for billionaires and big corporations, firing federal workers, gutting Medicaid, raising prices on everything from electricity to groceries, and the games of Washington are exhausting. And worse, they’re hurting people.
So listen, I’m not from that world, and y’all know I’m a person of action. And we are moving forward fast, across the state and across party lines to prove to a dysfunctional Washington that there is a better way forward. To make our public schools the best in America, to end childhood poverty once and for all, and to make sure that more Marylanders can afford to live here, to buy a home here, and create wealth for their families and live that secure middle class life.
And that’s why I’m asking you to reelect me as governor.
But first, I’m gonna need your help. So chip in, follow us. Share this video. But most importantly, join us. And let’s keep building a state where we leave no one behind.
(To the camera man) We good? Let’s get back to work.