Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) is taking steps to build his national profile even as he seeks to tamp down speculation that he could run for the White House next cycle.
The governor, who in early chatter was discussed as a running mate for former Vice President Kamala Harris on the 2024 Democratic ticket, told ABC’s “The View” last week that he’s “not running” for the White House in 2028.
But his appearance on the program and his recent swings through key states are keeping the spotlight on the rising Democratic star, who’s also staring down reelection as governor in 2026.
“He’s doing very little to discourage that speculation about 2028 … His schedule was at odds with his message,” Maryland-based Democratic strategist Len Foxwell said.
“On the one hand, he was swearing off the 2028 ambition, and on the other hand, he was going on a national talk show that is regarded as a must-stop for prospective Democratic presidential candidates, and then going to visit key battleground states in the presidential primary calendar,” Foxwell said.
“I am not running,” Moore said when asked by “The View” co-host Joy Behar if he had White House ambitions in 2028.
“Wait a minute — what if we really, really, really need you?” Behar asked, to laughter from the audience.
“I’m really excited right now about the work that’s happening right now in the state of Maryland,” Moore replied, touting some of his state’s successes.
Days later, he stopped in battleground Pennsylvania to deliver a commencement address at Lincoln University, a historically Black college.
His speech stressed the importance of “real patriotism” in uncertain times as he shared the story of his grandfather, an alumnus of the school who, his office said, was run out of the United States by the Ku Klux Klan as a child.
This week, he delivered a keynote talk on democracy at the Brennan Center Awards in New York City, again touting “the true mettle of patriotism.”
And next week, he’s set to headline the South Carolina state Democratic Party’s Blue Palmetto Dinner, a fundraising event in a key early primary state that has featured presidential hopefuls in the past. Harris appeared in 2022, and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) spoke there last year.
“Gov. Moore is certainly one of the party’s freshest faces, most dynamic leaders,” Democratic strategist Jon Reinish said.
“He’s going on big-name TV shows. He’s heading to the early states. I think most people at this stage would make a cursory denial of some kind. But again, look at what they do, not what they say.”
Moore, who won his seat in 2022, was thrust into the national political scene last year as he navigated the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. He became a notable surrogate for former President Biden, and then for Harris. The 46-year-old is Maryland’s first Black governor and just the third Black person elected governor of any state.
Actor George Clooney praised Moore last month as a “proper leader” and possible 2028 contender, pointing out his past experience serving in the military and helming the poverty-fighting nonprofit Robin Hood Foundation. Former NBA superstar Charles Barkley is also among the voices who have pointed to Moore as a favorite for 2028.
Former President Obama reportedly liked the idea of a 2024 ticket with Moore and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), according to an anonymous source cited in the book “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and NBC News’s Jonathan Allen.
He’s seen modest support in sparse, early 2028 polling. Morning Consult had him at just 1 percent in its latest survey — but that was just a point behind a handful of fellow Democratic governors considered as 2028 potentials, including Whitmer, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Colm O’Comartin, former executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, argued that Moore’s recent moves aren’t as explicitly aimed at a presidential future as some of those other figures.
Beshear, for example, openly said this week that he would “consider” a run.
“I hear a lot of people out there say that they would love to see [Moore] enter the fray, but I don’t see him doing things that are, you know, overtly campaign-oriented to the neglect of his day job,” O’Comartin said.
As he denies presidential chatter, Moore has stressed that his focus is on the Old Line State.
“I think anybody who is positioning themselves in 2025 for 2028 is not taking 2025 seriously,” Moore told CNN a few days after “The View,” when asked whether he was ruling out a 2028 campaign.
And while Moore looks toward reelection to the governor’s mansion next year, “it’s smart politics to remind people that his singular focus is the state of Maryland right now, especially through 2026,” O’Comartin said.
Moore is expected to seek another term in 2026, alongside Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D). He easily won his first term against a Republican rival in the deep blue state and is favored to win reelection, thought not without competition.
Retired Baltimore business owner Ed Hale Sr. is reportedly planning a Democratic challenge for the governor’s mansion, and Republican candidate John Myrick is running on the GOP side. Others may get into the race, including former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who held the seat before Moore and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate last year.
And while Moore’s job approval was above the halfway mark as of mid-March, it had slid several points since January, according to the Annapolis-based firm Gonzales Research & Media, as reported by Maryland Matters.
“We have seen in the past where prospective gubernatorial, prospective presidential candidates have been derailed because of a weaker than expected showing back home,” Foxwell said.
If Moore does have higher office ambitions, experts stressed a formidable midterm showing will be crucial to later making the pitch that he is the best candidate to stand up to Republicans.
“The best way for someone like Gov. Wes Moore to create a path for the presidential race in 2028 is to have a strong reelection campaign. If he can win resoundingly, and he can win key demographics, that will only increase the calls for him to get into the race,” Democratic strategist Fred Hicks said.
“There’s one thing for you to want to get in the race. It’s another thing for people to recruit you into the race. So for any real, viable candidate, you want to be recruited into the race, and that starts with how you govern and having a strong reelection in your own state.”
Other political figures have shrugged off speculation about a political path only to later change their minds and pursue it. Obama, then a senator from Illinois, said in 2006 that he intended to finish his term in the upper chamber, but launched his 2008 White House bid not long after.
Even if Moore doesn’t go for the White House in 2028, his rising national profile comes at a critical time for the party, as Democrats seek new standard-bearers in the wake of November’s losses.
“Democrats are still sorely lacking in leadership,” Hicks said. “So all of these steps are really putting Wes Moore’s name on the lips of Democratic tastemakers.”
