Episode 1: Maryland, Meet Wes Moore (Transcript)
- Ariel Mendez
- 4 days ago
- 12 min read
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Key themes:
Maryland cost of living
Maryland housing costs
Maryland tax burden
Maryland school quality
Maryland public safety
Maryland population loss
Maryland state identity
Maryland COVID-19 impacts
Maryland economic stress
Maryland political division
Maryland voter trust
Maryland accountability
Introduction
I am a lifelong Maryland resident. I was born here, went to public school here, graduated college here, started a business here, and am raising my children here. But the past few years have been different. The soaring cost of living, the unaffordable housing, the state taxes, the broken school systems, the job market, the politics, and everything in between. I feel like I don’t recognize Maryland anymore. I have had friends move away, and even now have friends in the process of leaving. I won’t lie, I have even thought of moving away myself. And I know I’m not the only one that has felt this way. More than 120,000 residents have left Maryland since 2020, according to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.mdchamber.org/2025/12/18/maryland-is-losing-people-to-other-states/). To give you a sense of scale, that is a population migration size larger than most cities in the state of Maryland (https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/pop.html) – it’s like losing two cities from my state!
To be honest, in a lot of ways, it felt like Maryland was experiencing this hyper-localized version of everything that United States was experiencing. Large population shifts from one state to another. Residents looking for environments that were more conducive to their success: less tax burdens, more affordable cost of living, more reliable school systems, and safer communities. Maryland was earning its nickname “America in miniature.”
So as someone who loves Maryland, considers myself a Maryland-patriot, and have a Maryland flag hanging in my living room – I am asking myself: what is happening, what is causing the change, and why?
You guys, I have spent the past several months trying to answer these questions. Was I living in a bubble? Was I just on the wrong side of town, did I need a better job, was I doing something to hinder my own success?
As I researched, I wanted to understand what exactly is driving these high costs of living (because I knew it wasn’t just groceries and gas), I wanted to learn more about the state school systems, and why I felt unsafe in my community.
Soon, I realized I was sitting on a ton of research and all these figurative puzzle pieces that when put together made the image of bad politicians and a system intelligently designed to profit off the people –what our legal system would call “bad-faith actors”. I’m not a journalist. I have a lot of questions and I want answers. Not every listener to this podcast is from Maryland, but every listener can benefit from Maryland’s story. Let Maryland be a cautionary tale to voters who put their faith in bad-faith politicians. Join me as we examine the stories that politicians tell, and what it cost the voters that believed them, examining closely the state of Maryland and the Governor Wes Moore administration.
You’re listening to the Seventh State podcast.
Meet Maryland
Meet Maryland, a key player in this story. Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region. She borders Washington D.C. and Virginia, or locally and endearingly known as the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia – not Department of Motor Vehicles). Maryland is one of the smallest states in the U.S. It has more than 6 million residents and is growing, which is a population larger than states like Colorado or South Carolina. It has one of the wealthiest counties in the US, some of the most expensive real estate, and the most culturally diverse cities in the country. It has a proposed operating budget of more than $70 billion ($70.8B) and, according to 2023 Maryland data, has a GDP over $500B ($512.3B) (https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/economy/html/economy.html); you guys, to put that into perspective on a global scale, this gives Maryland more economic power than countries like Iceland, Jordan, Bolivia, Uganda, or Myanmar.
You guys, we have Old Bay seasoning and blue crabs, we have amazing nature and agriculture from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, we have great craft beers, we have Under Armour, we have Charm City and the Baltimore Ravens, we have a rich history going back to the 13 colonies, and Maryland is the birthplace of the star spangled banner.
<star spangled banner news clip https://youtu.be/5bW5Wf_dH7Q?si=iNfmyAcLOXuAIpQY >
We do also have some of the worst traffic and worst drivers in the country. There’s a whole reddit page dedicated to it. Can you tell I love my state?
If this was a high school yearbook, Maryland would be the over-achieving eldest daughter of the states, running the student government, hiking on the weekends, sailing in the summers, and voted “Most Likely To Succeed”. Can you picture that person in your high school yearbook? These are Marylanders.
And then Maryland hit hard times, so did Marylanders.
<COVID-19 news clips summarizing Maryland COVID impact https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hozPF0jsX1M >
On March 5, 2020, Maryland declared a state of emergency. By mid-September, in just a matter of months, more than 10,000 Marylanders died of COVID-19 according to the Maryland Department of Health (https://marylandmatters.org/2021/09/16/deep-loss-maryland-surpasses-10000-covid-19-deaths/), and by 2022 it was more than 16,000 according to Johns Hopkins (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/maryland). Quarantines and closures affected businesses, the economy, schools, and everyone’s way of life. It hit hard for health care workers, blue collar workers, and critical sectors on the frontline. It hit hard for families and students who had to pivot to online learning, taking an educational, professional, and emotional toll. Unemployment reached a high of 9%. That means almost 1 out of 10 Maryland residents were out of a job (according to the Maryland Center on Economic Policy https://mdeconomy.org/slow-september-job-growth-ending-ui-benefits-didnt-boost-employment/ ). I picture my neighborhood, my street, and I see the faces of families that were affected just in my proximity, and the burdens they carried during this time.
Marylanders were suffering. But it wasn’t just COVID. In fact, COVID was the tip of the iceberg. Remember, Maryland is “America in miniature”. By November of that same year, America was experiencing crisis after crisis, so was Maryland: the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged lockdowns, the death of George Floyd, political protests and counterprotests, the 2020 presidential election, and the rush on Capitol Hill (https://apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/).
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where I’d like to introduce the next key player: Maryland, meet Wes Moore.
Maryland, Meet Wes Moore
Maryland is coming off the heels of COVID. The 2020 presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is incredibly divisive. The Rush on Capitol Hill has just happened. Not long after that, by February 2021, a political newcomer enters the political arena. Wes Moore publicly announces that he is “seriously considering” running for governor of Maryland. In a way, he is politically flirting with the state of Maryland. And by June of the same year, Wes Moore officially files the paperwork and becomes a gubernatorial candidate.
<One-on-one Wes Moore Interview– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfu5CXO5MUc&list=PLjEDcL_HNNaTOTqwQmWJwo4eE68tzFZUY&index=55>
Wes Moore positions himself as an underdog, a public servant, and an anti-poverty advocate https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/edquity-acquires-student-retention-expert-bridgeedu-300864938.html. During his campaign, we learn that Wes Moore calls Baltimore his home and has a deep connection to Maryland going back to childhood. He was born in Takoma Park and at the age of 3, his father passed away. As a kid, Wes Moore got into trouble with the law and by the age of 12 or 13, it’s not quite clear from my research but clearly middle school-aged, he was sent to a military academy.
Wes Moore would go on to be the youngest Army officer of his year. He would go on to be a Rhode Scholar and study at Oxford. He would then become an investment banker at Deutsche Bank, being part of one of the largest deals of his time – the Aires Deal. Then he went on to serve in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne division and receive a Bronze Star. From that he became a White House Fellow and eventually returned briefly to investment banking with Citibank. He then makes a leap into nonprofit management, founding BridgedEdU and then going on to be the CEO of Robin Hood Foundation. Here he raised over $650 million. All of this is on his LinkedIn profile if you want to check it out.
Did I forget to mention he is a best-selling author? His book, The Other Wes Moore, explores two Baltimore men that share the same name but go on to live very opposite lives, and his book The Work, dives deep into the lessons he learned throughout his career before public office.
This is Wes Moore, and this is the narrative or public image that he has spent decades creating. Oprah introduced him with these accolades, so did Stephen Colbert, NPR, Princeton University, and even his own publisher (https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/13/politics/wes-moore-baltimore-origin-story-campaign-governor-maryland).
And during his campaign for Maryland governor, Wes Moore got heavy hitting endorsements from the likes of Oprah Winfrey who held a virtual fundraiser for him, the coveted Maryland state teachers’ union, and President Joe Biden himself rallied in Rockville for Wes Moore.
<news clip of President Joe Biden campaigning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5aAW-mtybc>
It seems that everything Wes Moore touches succeeds, or rather that he takes success with him everywhere he goes – and that is an excellent track record. In this way, Wes Moore is a phoenix rising from the ashes of a challenging childhood – like I said, an underdog overcoming the odds. All of this resonates with Marylanders. We want to be phoenixes rising from the ashes of tough times; underdogs overcoming the odds. In general, who wouldn’t admire that grit?
By all accounts, Wes Moore doesn’t just seem to be the right candidate for the job, and he is also saying all the right things for the job. Wes Moore runs with the campaign slogan is “leave no one behind.”
<Leave no one behind montage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfUS_avdtqU >
<Leave no one behind military origin> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eQUwZTbJwE&list=PLjEDcL_HNNaTOTqwQmWJwo4eE68tzFZUY&index=58 >
In the spirit of leaving no one behind, Wes Moore campaigns on several key points and common themes throughout his campaign:
He talks about the economy at large and specifically: inflation, wages, and jobs in a post pandemic unemployment world, and he makes minimum wage a focal point
He talks about tackling disparities in education, improving childhood poverty, and not letting students be victims to politicians
He talks about equity and representation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mbc7QJBYk0&t=74s <43 sec mark>
He talks about public safety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfu5CXO5MUc&list=PLjEDcL_HNNaTOTqwQmWJwo4eE68tzFZUY&index=54 at the 4 minute mark, at the 6:15 mark
Most of all, he keeps mentioning how it is all personal. And this resonates with Marylanders, because it is personal – it is personal to us. But obvious holes emerge in Wes Moore’s narrative, and Wes Moore is starting to show all the red flags.
Holes In Wes Moore's Story
Wes Moore’s first gubernatorial campaign spans a time frame from June 2021 to November 2022 when he won the election (November 9, 2022). That’s 17 months. For perspective, that is enough time for a baby to go from bottle-feeding to solid foods to feeding itself, from crawling to walking and most likely running, to holding a crayon, flipping through a board book – to go from being a swaddled baby to an autonomous toddler. And just like that, it felt like Wes Moore’s story had taken on a life of its own.
Mid-way through his campaign, we start to see holes in the story and cracks in the façade of Wes Moore’s public persona. In April, a series of exposing articles are published by established national news sources including The Washington Post and CNN as well as local news sources like Maryland Matters.
One article spoke about Wes Moore’s personal finances. In 2013 Wes Moore owed more than $13,000 to the state of Maryland for improperly received Homestead Tax Credits. In another article, Wes Moore owed more than $21,000 for a 2022 unpaid water bill in Baltimore.
<Water bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKcyxr-EKjY >
For a man with a strong financial background, what was going on with these unpaid bills?
In another article, it cast doubt on Wes Moore’s childhood and career. Wes Moore was not the Baltimore-native he had spent more than a decade building. Wes Moore spent most of his childhood in the Bronx, then at military school in Pennsylvania, only returning to Baltimore to finish his degree at Johns Hopkins (only a matter of years). That’s like calling your college town your hometown. I wouldn’t do that.
And there were other false narratives, like his own nonprofit, BridgedEdU, faced criticism from the very students that participated in it. The decorated veteran? Wes Moore did not actually receive a Bronze Star.
< false bronze star https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc6bBauH3ok >
Wes Moore is telling obvious lies. And if you know the end of this story (spoiler alert, you do), Wes Moore would go one to become Maryland’s first black governor. So what led voters to support him with their vote?
And this brings us to our next character in this story: Meet Maryland voters.
Meet Maryland Voters
So far, you have met the first two key players: the State of Maryland, this beautiful and small state that is an economic powerhouse, and the gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore who is charming and appealing and has some skeletons in his closet; and now, I want to introduce to you our third and final character: Maryland voters.
I am a Maryland voter. Maryland voters have picked up a reputation for being a blue state. And that shouldn’t be surprising. Maryland has voted for Democratic presidential candidates in every election since 1992—a streak that spans more than three decades. https://cnsmaryland.org/2024/10/01/maryland-presidential-election-history-2024/ And just for fun, I went on to Claude AI to see what it had to say about Maryland’s political landscape. The result? Claude said: “Maryland is one of the most reliably Democratic states in the country.” And there is a ratio that keeps coming up in my own research: Maryland Democrats outweigh Maryland Republicans 2:1. And somehow, this doesn’t feel accurate to me.
So I took a long and thorough look at data from the Maryland Board of Elections, the Maryland State Archives, and the U.S. Census Bureau. There are more than 6.1 million residents in Maryland, I will call them the general population. 70% of the general population are actively registered voters, and 30% of the general population are not registered to vote at all. (https://elections.maryland.gov/pdf/vrar/2026/MSR-2026_02.pdf).
Of those 70% active registered voters, half of them are registered Democrats (51.33% to be exact, making them the majority). And throughout all my research, no one is talking about is this “other” group. This “other” category includes independent or unaffiliated voters and parties like the green party or the working-class party. In the state of Maryland, this “other” category eclipses the republican party. That goes to say, there are more “Other” voters than there are Republicans, and most of those “other” voters are independents.
So if we were to paint the Maryland voter landscape in terms of the general population, only 36% of genpop are registered democrats, 34% of gen pop are a mix of republicans and independents, and the remaining 30% aren’t voting at all. What does that mean? It means that on any given day of the week, I am more likely to interact with a republican, an independent, or a non-voter than I am to interact with a registered democrat – that doesn’t sound like one of the most “reliably democratic states in the country” like Claude said, it sounds like Maryland is very politically mixed state. And that’s not my opinion, it is a numerical fact. And that probably explains the cognitive dissonance – why I hear that Maryland is a democrat state, but I don’t experience it that way.
And Maryland’s voting history at a state level tracks with this thesis. Before there was democratic Governor Wes Moore, Maryland had republican Governor Larry Hogan. Before Governor Larry Hogan was democratic Governor Martin Omalley, and before him was republican Bob Erlich. Do you see the pattern? Democrat, republican, democrat, republican… you get the picture. That sounds very mixed to me!
And I wonder how many states are like this? They’ve built a reputation for being very left-winged, blue, and Democrat, or very right-winged, red, and Republican; heck, even Claude AI which aggregates large data sets to draw its conclusions says Maryland is reliably democrat. But our citizens show strong signs of a different story, one that is more in the middle and moderate, think shade of gray or shades of purple. And I recognize that there are many ways to look at this, comparing governor elections to legislature elections to presidential elections. But as citizens, we live this, and it is polarizing. Again, Maryland is America in miniature.
So you would think in this campaign for Maryland governor, that the fight would be heated between democrats and republicans – just like the rest of the country. But perhaps surprisingly, that’s not the case. The fight is democrats versus democrats to win the Maryland primary. And things are about to escalate and take an ugly turn when the Honest Dems Dossier drops, one of the most revealing and damning indictments of Wes Moore yet.
Outro
I started this episode by sharing how upset I had become living in Maryland, reaching a point of wanting to move away. So as I continued to research the sequence of events, I was left scratching my head: As a voter, I feel like we keep finding ourselves in this position – are there really no better options for politicians? This goes for both sides of the political aisle.
As we continue through this podcast series, listeners, please consider the following questions:
What truths and lies do politicians tell, and what does it cost the voters who believed them? This applies to more than just Maryland. For instance, in late 2025 independent investigative journalism exposed mass childcare fraud in Minnesota. This level of fraud is happening in different states across the country, including Maryland (as this series will get into). Who is responsible, who is to blame? How could we have seen this coming or prevented it? What truths and lies do politicians tell, and what does it cost the voters that believed them?
And lastly, the oath of office is one of the highest oaths a person can take. You are committing to supporting not just the constitution, the state, but to supporting the people diligently and faithfully. What consequences, if any, do politicians face for acting in bad faith or ill-will of the people? Is their only consequence to step down from office or just not run again?
These are relevant questions to ask. It is most timely for Marylanders who are facing elections this year in 2026. After all, Maryland is America in miniature – so I would love to hear stories from your states as well. This was only the beginning of Wes Moore’s story as governor. The next four years will change Maryland, and arguably for the worse.
If you like what you heard today and it piqued your interest, or you know a Marylander that might enjoy it – review, subscribe, and share. This is an independent podcast: researched, written, edited, and produced by me – Ariel, a lifelong Marylander, with creative direction from my husband, Mannie.
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