Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, widely viewed as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, said on Sunday that he was focused on being re-elected as governor, even as his national profile has continued to grow in recent weeks as he traded barbs with President Trump.
Mr. Moore, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” was asked three times if he would run for president in 2028, with the host, Kristen Welker, at times expressing incredulity at his answers. “I’m not running for president,” he said twice, with a smile — carefully phrasing his response in the present tense, as he has other times the question has come up.
But notably, the first-term governor said he planned on running for re-election in 2026, and replied in the affirmative when asked whether he was committed to a full second term.
Ms. Welker’s final framing of the question — “You completely rule it out?” — drew another smile as the governor turned his attention back to his state.
“I’m so excited by what we’re doing, that we’ve gone from 43rd in the country in unemployment to now one of the lowest unemployment rates,” he said. “We’ve had among the fastest drops in violent crime in anywhere in the United States of America, our population is growing, Maryland is moving and so I’m really excited about going back in front of the people in my state and asking for another term.”
Mr. Moore’s profile skyrocketed after he directly confronted Mr. Trump’s threat to deploy the National Guard to Baltimore, a city the president called “one of the most unsafe places anywhere in the world.”
Mr. Moore and Brandon Scott, Baltimore’s mayor, slammed those characterizations, noting that the city’s homicide rate was the lowest it has been in 50 years. Those statistics don’t fit the president’s narrative, Mr. Moore told The New York Times last month. “This is just a series of ignorant tropes that he continues to lay out,” he said.
The trading of barbs involved Mr. Moore sending a letter inviting the president on a public safety walk through the streets of Baltimore, which prompted Mr. Trump to tell Mr. Moore to “stop talking and get to work.” Mr. Moore responded by saying Mr. Trump would “do anything to get out of walking — even if that means spouting off more lies about the progress we’re making on public safety in Maryland.”
Mr. Trump called Baltimore a “horrible deathbed” and a “hellhole,” saying Mr. Moore “doesn’t have what it takes” and even addressing the possibility Mr. Moore could pursue the Oval Office by saying the governor was “not presidential timber.”
Mr. Moore, who is certain to face more question about 2028 despite his stated intentions, noted in response, “It’s interesting the President seems to be more concerned about my future than he is about the future of the American people.”
Talya Minsberg is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news.
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