{"id":19154,"date":"2026-02-19T16:01:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wes-moore-i-dont-answer-to-the-democratic-party\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:01:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:01:54","slug":"wes-moore-i-dont-answer-to-the-democratic-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wes-moore-i-dont-answer-to-the-democratic-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Wes Moore: ‘I don’t answer to the Democratic Party\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Thursday defended his recent clashes with state Democrats, denying that he\u2019s in a weak political position with his own legislature that has held up several of his policies and a push to redraw the state\u2019s Congressional maps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no political party that made me. In fact, the Democratic Party put millions of dollars to try to stop me from winning. I don\u2019t answer to the Democratic Party. I don\u2019t answer to party bosses,\u201d Moore, a Democrat, said during Blue Light News\u2019s 2026 Governors Summit. \u201cI only answer to the people who made me governor of Maryland, which is the people of Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore pointed out that he defeated the preferred candidate of many Democratic party bosses when he first ran for governor as a political newcomer in 2022.<\/p>\n

Maryland Democrats overrode at least 16<\/a> of the governor\u2019s vetoes in December and the state\u2019s Senate president, Bill Ferguson, is actively blocking Moore\u2019s redistricting effort, saying the bill doesn\u2019t have enough votes to pass on the floor. Moore continues to say Maryland residents are in favor of redistricting in the state, though a poll from December found just 27 percent of residents<\/a> supported the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Bill Ferguson says, well, the votes aren’t there in the Senate, my only point is this: OK, well, you know, the best way to prove that’s true? Do a vote,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

Moore \u2014 widely considered a 2028 contender though he has repeatedly denied he wants to run \u2014 has attempted to position himself as a counterweight to President Donald Trump. But the resistance he\u2019s facing in his own backyard has some national Democrats wondering whether he can successfully mount a White House run.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Moore again dismissed the idea of running for president, saying he was focused on 2026 and \u201cnot even thinking\u201d about 2028. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Oklahoma\u2019s GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, the current chair of the National Governors Association, defended Moore at the event, saying he had more respect for the Democrat knowing he stood up to lawmakers within his own party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have more respect for him now, knowing that he vetoed the bills,\u201d Stitt said. \u201c I have a super majority Republican, and I vetoed 67 bills last year, and I think they overrode probably 45 of them. So it happens to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Thursday defended his recent clashes with state Democrats, denying that he\u2019s in a weak political position with his own legislature that has held up several of his policies and a push to redraw the state\u2019s Congressional maps. \u201cThere is no political party that made me. In fact, the Democratic Party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}