Wes Moore, first Black Governor in Maryland history to be sworn in

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (DC News Now) — Today marks the day Wes Moore becomes the first Black Governor of Maryland.

Moore will be the third Black American in the history of the United States to take a governorship.

Moore, who is 44 and has two children, said history wasn’t at the forefront of his mind during his successful campaign. 

“It was something I always recognized because I know the … very complex racial history of the state, but at the same time, I knew that that wasn’t why I was going to win,” he said in an interview with The Hill. “I wasn’t running to make history. I was running because I knew that there was an urgency in the challenges that we’re looking to solve.”

A veteran who served in Afghanistan, Moore comes from a family of immigrants. Despite being a Democrat, he earned an endorsement from the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police while campaigning, as well as major celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. 

He’s been open about his past — including a brush with the law as a young child — and he’s not afraid to discuss the impact of racially-targeted violence, which has grown over recent years.

Like many Black Americans, Moore and his family have been directly impacted by white violence — and it almost led to him never having the chance to run for Maryland governor. 

Moore’s great-grandparents were Jamaican immigrants who settled in South Carolina when they came to the U.S. But the Ku Klux Klan forced them back to their home country. 

“My great-grandfather was a vocal minister, and eventually he started getting threats, and the threats turned into violent threats,” Moore told The Hill. “He picked up the family in the middle of the night and they left not just the town, they left the country and headed to Jamaica. And for much of my family who left, they always pledged to never come back to this country.”

He will be joined by Aruna Miller who will be the first female to take the post of Liuetenant-Governor.

Yesterday Moore named Hagerstown Mayor Emily Keller as his Special Secretary for Opioid Response.

Moore also announced the appointment of Senator Susan Lee as Maryland’s next Secretary of State last Tuesday.

Lee is set to become Maryland’s first Asian American Secretary of State. She has a decades-long record of public service.

Moore has proposed several agenda items once sworn in. One of his priorities is a proposed “gap year” for graduating high school seniors to work in their communities on a broad range of projects.

They would be paid $15,000 and be eligible for a $6,000 college scholarship after helping with a variety of needs in urban neighborhoods and rural areas. Moore said it would bring youth from diverse racial and economic backgrounds together for a common good.