Wes Moore, Black Democrats aiming to make Maryland history

If Wes Moore is elected Maryland’s first Black governor and the first Black attorney general, history could be his. Moore’s running mate, Aruna Miller, who is from India, would be Maryland’s first Asian-American to be elected to the state legislature.

These Democrats will win. Moore leads by more than 30% in a state where registered Democrats exceed Republicans 2-1. Black politicians will be in many top-ranking state offices in Maryland which is now a majority minority state according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Moore’s victory would see him retake the governor’s seat for Democrats after eight years of Republican governorship. Larry Hogan.

“It will be fascinating to see Maryland’s future when it has a unified Democratic government that looks as the promise of diversity in that big-tent type of politics that the Democratic Party really wants to have nationally,” stated Mileah Kromer who teaches political science at Goucher College, Towson, Maryland.

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Moore, a 44 year-old combat veteran, Rhodes scholar and author, is running with the “leave nobody behind” slogan. Moore has promised to keep funding for the K-12 education program with broad equity goals, known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. He also plans to build on other initiatives that create equal opportunity for Marylanders.

Moore stated that “This could be Maryland’s moment” in his only televised debate with Del. Dan Cox. “We have incredible people and amazing potential, but not everyone’s in the position to succeed.”

Only two Black politicians were ever elected to the United States governorship — Virginia’s Douglas Wilder (1989) and Deval Patrick (2006 (2006). If she wins the Georgia rematch against GOP Gov., Democrat Stacey Abrams will become the nation’s first Black female Governor. Brian Kemp.

Maryland’s legislature was long controlled by Democrats. Del. Adrienne Jones will be the first Black and first female speaker of the House in Maryland. They have been working together with Bill Ferguson, a white senator, to drive policies in the General Assembly that are more focused on equity issues.

Holli Holliday believes that the nation is moving to embrace diversity. Not just across racial lines, but also from different backgrounds and perspectives when addressing problems.

“Certainly, I can see Maryland as a precursor to the things I believe we will see in states like Maryland,” stated Holliday, president of Sisters Lead Sisters Vote (a 501(c), 4 organization founded in Black women) and who lives in Prince George’s County, which is majority-Black.

Maryland has seen some symbolic changes: The statues of Harriet Tubman (famous abolitionist) and Frederick Douglass (both born on Maryland’s Eastern Shore as slaves) have been added in to the historic Old House Chamber. This chamber was where slavery was abolished in Maryland in 1864.

In 2017, state leaders took from Capitol grounds the statue of Roger B. Taney. He was the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from Maryland and wrote the 1857 Dred Scot decision, which upheld slavery but denied citizenship to African Americans.

Former President Barack Obama endorses Moore, while former President Donald Trump backs Cox, a first term state legislator who won 32% of Maryland’s vote in the 2020 presidential election. Cox said that President Joe Biden’s win should not have been certified, and tweeted that Vice President Mike Pence was a traitor.

Hogan doesn’t support Cox. He describes him as a “QAnon whackjob” and a “QAnon whackjob.” Kelly Schulz was the moderate Republican Hogan endorsed in the primary. The Democratic Governors Association purchased TV ads to support Cox. They hoped that he would be easier to defeat in general elections.

A Washington Post-University of Maryland survey showed that Democrats had the advantage. It was conducted by telephone on Sept. 22-27 and found that 60% of respondents said they would vote Moore, 28% for Cox, and 9% were undecided. The margin of error was +/- 4 percentage points.

In a Goucher College poll, Brown was ahead by 22 points against Republican Michael Peroutka. The telephone survey, which was conducted between Sept. 8-12 among likely voters, had a 3.6% error margin.

Peroutka quit the League of the South after he was classified as a hate organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He had a video of himself singing “Dixie” at a conference.

In the last two elections, Black candidates for Maryland governorship have failed to win. Brown was the former governor’s lieutenant governor during eight years of his tenure. Martin O’Malley lost to Hogan in 2014. This was a surprise win. Hogan was popular and defeated Ben Jealous, former president of the NAACP in 2018. He became the second Republican governor to win re-election in Maryland’s history.

Quentin James, the founder and president of The Collective PAC, a political action group that focuses on Black candidates across the country, said Moore’s strong credentials as well as his win in a crowded primary against nationally recognized rivals should dispel any doubts that Black candidates could win top office.

Moore won over some internal opposition from a former Maryland Democratic Party official who quit as deputy treasurer after questioning Black candidates for governor in an e-mail to party members. A Black woman, who was the state party chair, quickly responded by saying that “we don’t condone nor support the comments made in her email.”

James spoke highly of Moore’s and Brown’s candidacies, saying that “It’s a testament to where Maryland and our nation is headed in terms Black leadership ascending into these offices that haven’t had enough representation.”