Maryland's Wes Moore says he's not running for president but high-profile stops keep chatter alive

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, often mentioned among Democrats as a potential presidential candidate, has been saying for months that he isn't running for the White House in 2028.

That hasn't stopped persistent talk about his future political plans, especially when he continues to make appearances outside Maryland that raise his national profile.

On Friday, Moore traveled to speak at the Blue Palmetto Dinner in the early presidential primary state of South Carolina, where he told a ballroom of Democrats that it's time for their shared party to take swift action to improve outcomes in areas like job creation and education outcomes, rather than slow and more deliberate moves.

''I'm here on a mission,'' Moore told a packed room of party donors, activists, candidates and elected officials. ''This is the moment for us to say together in one voice: gone are the days when the Democrats are the party of no and slow. we must be the party of yes and now….we must be the party of action, and that action must come now.''

Moore's remarks served as a way to introduce himself to the voters who will play a pivotal role in the party's next nominee. While it will be months until the 2028 presidential nominating calendar is set, South Carolina led off Democrats' 2024 calendar, and party chair Christale Spain has said that she will renew the argument to keep the state's No. 1 position in the next cycle.

The trip to South Carolina included meetings with business prospects. Earlier Friday, he toured Scout Motors' electric SUV production facility in Blythewood, just north of Columbia. In a social media post, Moore characterized that trip as fact-finding that would help him ''keep bringing opportunities and business like yours to Maryland, so that we can continue building and diversifying our economy.''

Moore has been intentional about face time with South Carolina Democrats before. Last summer, he was one of several potential presidential hopefuls to address the state's delegation on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

On Friday, drawing several standing ovations, some of Moore's most impassioned remarks came as he levied criticism at President Donald Trump, who he said is, albeit rashly, quick to take action.

''Donald Trump doesn't need a study to use the Constitution like it's a suggestion box,'' he said. ''Donald Trump doesn't need a white paper to start arbitrary trade wars that will raise the cost on virtually everything in our lives.''

''Anybody who is talking about 2028 doesn't understand the urgency of 2025,'' Moore added.

When asked directly about 2028, though, the governor is clear.

''I'm not running,'' Moore told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. He also said, when asked, that he isn't trying to get his name in the conversation for a potential vice presidential candidacy, either.

''And people should get very used to me going all over the country bringing business back to Maryland, because that's exactly what I plan on doing as long as I'm the governor of the state,'' Moore said after a dedication in Annapolis for a memorial to former Rep. Parren Mitchell, the state's first Black congressman.

In the third year of his first term, Moore plans to run for reelection next year in heavily Democratic Maryland. He says being the state's governor during a challenging time has his full attention.

That includes working to navigate the difficulties of dramatic federal downsizing under the Trump administration, which poses an outsize economic impact on Maryland. The state is home to a large number of federal workers toiling in the shadow of the nation's capital — about 256,000 Marylanders received a federal W-2 in 2021, representing about 8% of taxpayers, according to an analysis by the state's comptroller.

Earlier this month, Maryland lost its triple-A bond rating from the Moody's economic rating agency. State officials had cited the rating for more than 50 years as a sign of strong fiscal stewardship that enabled the state to pay the lowest rates when it sells bonds to pay for infrastructure. Two other rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, have recently affirmed the state's triple-A bond rating.

Moore and other leading Democrats in the state blamed the Trump administration's downsizing for the Moody's downgrade.

The governor just had the most challenging legislative session of his tenure. Facing a $3.3 billion budget deficit, he worked with the legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, to reach a balanced budget that included about $2 billion in spending cuts throughout state government and about $1.6 billion in new revenues through tax and fee increases.

Most of the tax increases were imposed on high-income residents, including two new higher tax brackets for people who make more than $500,000 and a new 2% tax on capital gains for people with income over $350,000. The governor has said most Marylanders won't see a tax increase, and some will receive a modest tax cut. Still, Maryland Republicans have been pouncing on the tax increases — an issue sure to be raised often by the GOP's next nominee for governor.

Moore, 46, is the state's first Black governor, and the only Black governor currently serving. He is the former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty nonprofit. He also is a Rhodes scholar and a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.

The buzz around Moore has persisted since the bestselling author won Maryland's governorship in his first bid for public office in a landslide in 2022, after prevailing in a crowded Democratic primary that included former national party chairman and former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

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Witte reported from Annapolis, Maryland. Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP