Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a rising Democratic star, leans into a sense of national pride as the party searches for new vision

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore appears to be everywhere at the moment — popping up on “The View,” delivering a commencement address at a historically Black university in battleground Pennsylvania and, later this month, delivering an address to South Carolina Democrats, who could be pivotal in determining the Democratic Party’s nominee in 2028. The rising star is part of a chorus of Democratic leaders putting forward a vision for how the party should take on Donald Trump as the president plows ahead with his second-term agenda. “We need to be a country that really gets to know each other again and works together and serves together,” Moore told CNN in an interview following his Sunday commencement address at Lincoln University, where he emphasized bringing Americans from different political ideologies together through a shared commitment to service. That cheerful outlook comes at a time of deep dissatisfaction among Democrats with the state of the party’s leadership and approach to countering Trump. A recent CNN poll found that just 38% of Democratic-aligned Americans approve of their party’s leadership, compared with 61% who say they disapprove. Moore — Maryland’s first Black governor and just the third Black person elected governor of any state — seemed uninterested in attacking fellow Democratic leaders directly, but acknowledged the widespread anger among the party’s voters. “I think a lot of the frustration is justified. I get it. I don’t see how you can look at the situation that many people exist in, and think that everything is OK,” he said. Moore suggested the best way out for Democrats is to lean into what he describes as a “culture of repair” to connect with people who have felt left behind by the status quo. But his vision for moving everyone forward includes a host of policy prescriptions that are arguably easier to advance in a Democratic-controlled state than one with divided government. For instance, he championed Maryland’s accelerated minimum-wage increase, investments in apprenticeship programs, mass pardons for cannabis convictions and increased taxes on the wealthy as responsive to the moment. In his commencement address, Moore leaned into a sense of national pride, a message that is not a point of emphasis for many Democrats. The combat veteran told graduating seniors that “patriotism is a responsibility of a lifetime” as he recounted the legacy of his grandfather, the Rev. James Thomas, a Lincoln University alum. Thomas was forced to leave the US as a child when Moore’s great-grandfather, a vocal community minister, fled with the family to his native Jamaica to escape the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. “Within my grandfather‘s journey, you find lessons about not just national pride or national spirit, but lessons about what it means to be an American,” Moore said. Moore’s grandfather ultimately returned to the US out of a belief the country “would be incomplete” without him. “Loving your country doesn’t mean lying about its history,” Moore said in his address. “Our country is currently divided into two camps, not left versus right or red versus blue, but between those who use patriotism as a club to beat others and those who feel ashamed to bear the flag, between those who think loving America means hating half the people in it and those who allow cynicism about our nation’s history to obscure their aspirations.” Across the country, leading Democrats are signaling different strategies for how to respond to the Trump administration’s actions. Some, like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, are positioning themselves as fighters — fiercely opposing Trump’s moves and calling on the Democratic Party to do more. Others have shown an openness to work with the president to find common ground, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who recently secured a new fighter jet mission for an Air National Guard base in her state. When asked by CNN whether Moore saw room to work with the White House, he cast doubt on the idea that the president and his allies are willing partners. “While I will work with anyone, I will not bow down to anyone. We’re not built that way,” he said. “I believe partnership has to go both ways. And the thing that we continue to see from this administration has just been an all-out assault on the state of Maryland,” Moore said before lamenting the thousands of federal workers in the state impacted by what he sees as the haphazard cuts in the president‘s first 100 days. While Moore faces reelection next year in Maryland, talk has already turned to a potential 2028 run for the 46-year-old governor. During an appearance on ABC’s “The View” last week, Moore repeatedly said, “I’m not running” when asked about a presidential bid in the next cycle. Pressed on whether that meant he was ruling out launching a campaign in 2028, Moore said his focus “is exclusively on making sure this is going to be Maryland’s decade.” “I think anybody who is positioning themselves in 2025 for 2028 is not taking 2025 seriously,” he said. Later this month, Moore will travel to the key early primary state of South Carolina to headline a dinner for the state Democratic Party. In his remarks, Moore is expected to emphasize the significance of strong leadership, according to an early excerpt of prepared remarks provided to CNN. “In this moment, our job is not to simply go into hiding until there’s another election. The measure of our success will be how we choose to lead,” Moore is expected to say.