Wesley Watende Omari Moore (1978 -) is sworn in as the 63rd Governor of Maryland. He is the first African American Maryland Governor, the third African American to have been elected governor in the U.S., and the youngest at 45. He is the only sitting Black governor at present during this important inflection point in the American experiment.
Wes Moore is born in Takoma Park but spends most of his youth in New York. A troubled young man, he is sent to the Valley Forge Military Academy and College by his mother. In 1998, he graduates from Valley Forge and goes on graduate with honors from Johns Hopkins and Oxford. After serving in the U.S. Army with a tour in Afghanistan as a captain in the 82nd Airborne (a combat position), he begins a career as an investment banker but demonstrates his many talents as an author, television producer and a non-profit executive.
Moore’s long interest in politics and participation in many activities with the Democratic Party leads to his campaign for Maryland governor beginning in June of 2021. Running on a progressive platform of “work, wages and wealth” and “leave no one behind,” he is elected in November 2022.
