Comment Author and former nonprofit chief Wes Moore, a Democrat, defeated far-right Republican Dan Cox to become the first black man elected governor in Maryland history, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Moore, 44, scored a major victory for Democrats in a tough national election cycle for the party, reclaiming the governor’s mansion after eight years of Republican rule with a vow to “leave no one behind” — a message that resonated across a state that differentiated people of color have recently become the majority. “We leave no one behind. And that’s not just a mantra,” Moore said during the campaign. “It’s a value statement. And it’s not just a value statement. In January, this will be the new mission of this state.” The son of a Jamaican immigrant raised by a single mother, Moore becomes just the third black man to be elected governor in American history — after Deval Patrick in Massachusetts and L. Douglas Wilder in Virginia. A young politician, Moore moved Maryland voters with charisma and optimism and is considered a rising star among a new generation of leaders in the Democratic Party. Cheers erupted at Moore’s victory party in Baltimore as the fight was called, with Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” playing over the loudspeakers. At the same time, in an Annapolis hotel ballroom, Cox’s supporters looked at a television that showed the Associated Press calling the fight. With Democrats holding a 2-to-1 advantage in voter registration and an electorate that leans moderate, a Democratic victory seemed inevitable after Cox won the GOP nomination. Polls showed Moore with a nearly 30-point lead less than six weeks before Election Day. Cox tripped right, unable to build the bipartisan coalition that elevated the popular and term-limited Republican incumbent, Larry Hogan. Hogan dismissed Cox as unfit. Cox has capitalized on conservative complaints about the coronavirus mandate, emphasized parental rights in schools and maintained ties to former President Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Maryland. Moore’s running mate will be Aruna Miller, a former state representative the state’s first immigrant and the first woman of color to serve as lieutenant governor. The slate that broke the barrier also included U.S. Rep. Anthony G. Brown (D-Md.), who would become the first black attorney general, and Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City) as the first woman to serve as comptroller. “With Moore, it’s the intangible. It felt credible,” said former high school teacher Alfonso Sasieta, 30, as he cast his ballot in Hyattsville on Tuesday. He said he’s excited to see what Moore has in store. “I think as a Black man with some lived experiences, those will give him insight into what politics looks like.” A block from Thurgood Marshall’s childhood home in West Baltimore, Sarah Holley, 75, walked out of the polling booth Tuesday having voted for Moore, a blue pin stamped “WES” on her hat. “It’s a true sign of progress of what we can do as a people,” said Holley, a retired journalist who is black. At another polling place in Baltimore, a black woman shook Moore’s hand and prayed with him before returning to a blue and yellow campaign bus. On the campaign trail, Moore publicly deflected talk of “firsts,” offering a version of his response at an event with Hillary Clinton last month: “The burden of making history is sitting on us, and it’s humbling. But that’s not the mission.” Moore built a statewide coalition around issues such as reducing crime, enhancing economic opportunity and ending child poverty—goals for which he carved out ambitious policies without a price tag. When pressed for specifics, he would point to the state’s multibillion-dollar surplus as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to change state government. Moore also touched on issues often monopolized by Republicans, embracing patriotism and championing property tax cuts. “Wes represents the future of Maryland in a bold way. He is business savvy. he’s a veteran who has taken real risks on behalf of our country in battle, and he’s also a little darker than anyone who’s come before,” said former NAACP president Ben Jealous, who made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018 . A former investment banker, football player and Johns Hopkins graduate, Rhodes Scholar and White House fellow who once led the Robinhood Foundation, the world’s largest anti-poverty nonprofit, Moore has attracted a star-studded list of supporters. He had a fundraiser headlined by Oprah Winfrey and Spike Lee, a campaign ad shot with former President Barack Obama, and several rallies alongside President Biden. His nearly two-year campaign centered on his personal story of adversity, detailed in his best-selling book “The Other Wes Moore,” a narrative that begins when his father died in front of him at age 3 from a bad disease diagnosis. His difficult teenage years were tempered by the military school where his mother sent him to escape the Bronx. He now lives in Baltimore with his veteran wife, Dawn The Maryland politician and their two children: Mia, 11, and James, 9. Moore’s political ambitions took decades to realize. “Every time I go back to New York,” Moore told the Palm Beach Post in 1998. “I see my old neighborhood decaying and I ask myself, ‘What can I do about it?’” Politics is where the power is to do something about it.’ He overcame a crowded primary field that included well-known political heavyweights to challenge Cox, a first-year state representative and father of 10 from Frederick, who rocketed past Hogan’s handpicked moderate Republican successor. Cox, who said he believes the 2020 election was “stolen” was boosted by former President Trump’s endorsement and was mocked by Hogan as a “slut” not worthy of endorsement. (Cox unsuccessfully sued and tried to blame Hogan for pandemic restrictions.) “Wes is highly qualified … but Cox is a real blessing to Wes,” said Alvin Thornton, chairman emeritus of the political science department at Howard University. Despite Trump’s Mar-a-Lago fundraiser last month, Cox’s campaign never raised more than a tenth of Moore’s nearly $16 million in resources. In a state where GOP leaders are winning by appealing to independents and moderates, Cox is sticking to his conservative values. He focused his message on “freedom” from vaccine mandates, school curricula that discuss gender identity and income taxes that form the backbone of government revenue. Moore “was fortunate to have Dan Cox as his opponent,” said Carl Snowden, a longtime civil rights activist in Anne Arundel County. “Especially because there were many people, including African Americans, who were comfortable with Hogan.” Outside Wheaton High School, Charles Williams, 42, a plumber, was one of the black voters who thought Hogan was “pretty cool.” But when it came time to vote for a Republican successor, Williams said Cox didn’t have much appeal, so he backed Moore, saying he was “for the people.” “To me it doesn’t matter, Republican, Democrat, it’s who gets the job done,” Williams said. Cox has repeatedly declined to say whether he would accept the election results, citing concern over a court-approved change in when mail-in ballots can be opened. Maryland’s record for lopsided gubernatorial victories was set in 1986, when then-Baltimore Mayor William Donald Shaffer was elected governor with 82 percent of the vote. Moore’s political ties in Maryland began at an internship with former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, the city’s first black mayor. Schmoke recommended Moore as a Rhodes scholar, and when Moore was done with Oxford, Schmoke suggested a job in the private sector to bolster his credibility when he ran. “It was clear to me that it was important for him to understand not only the public sector, but the private sector, and he would get more support from the business community if he understood the private sector,” Schmoke said in a recent interview. When Moore’s first political campaign finally got underway, Smoke asked Maryland law professor and respected political organizer Larry Gibson to consider helping out. Gibson had helped launch the political careers of Smoke and Wayne K. Curry, the first black elected to lead Prince George’s County. Earlier this year, Gibson became a senior adviser and presenter during the primary, attending events and posting campaign signs in far-flung parts of the state. This spring, Gibson said he spent his 80th birthday going up the steps to knock on doors for Moore. Moore also sought advice from a titan among America’s black political leaders: Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts, who encouraged him to articulate a vision to all voters, not just Democrats. “I know what an incredible talent Wes is. I know the sense of generational responsibility, that we’re here to leave things better for those who come after us, but not everyone is going to know if he doesn’t explain it,” Patrick said of his advice to Moore. Moore said most of their conversations were not about the possibility of him making history, but about how to get elected and govern effectively. “It doesn’t tell me not to appreciate the fact that we’re doing something that’s never been done before,” Moore said in an interview in mid-October. But “this thing will fade from the conversation very quickly. What will stick is: What kind of ruler was he?’ Moore’s victory comes at the height of Maryland’s complicated racial past. Maryland never left the union, but was a slave state with Confederate sympathizers, and the generations following the Civil War erected prominent tributes to such figures as the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision, which declared blacks…
