ROCKVILLE, Md. — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee kicked off the party’s midterm campaign Thursday in Maryland’s safely Democratic suburbs with a show of solidarity that showcased Wes Moore, a rising star with a good shot at flipping the state’s governorship.
After being introduced by Moore at a Montgomery County high school, Biden reflected on the nation’s troubles.
“I believe America’s at a genuine inflection point … you must choose. Will we be a country that moves forward or moves backward?”
“Forward!” the crowd cheered.
Though midterm elections typically favor the party out of the White House, Democrats hope that Biden’s approval of a landmark Inflation Reduction Act and executive action to forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loans for certain borrowers, balanced against recent Supreme Court decisions overturning abortion protections and loosening gun control regulations, will energize voters who might otherwise not turn up at the polls.
Biden’s appearance at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville briefly shined a national light on Moore, who faces conservative Republican Dan Cox in the Nov. 8 general election.
Moore, an author and former nonprofit leader, introduced the president Thursday, thanking him for his leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and bitter bipartisan federal politics. The two embraced as Biden walked on stage.
“While I am thankful for the Biden administration, I am also deeply grateful for the man that is Joe Biden. A public servant by every definition of the word, and someone who exudes — exudes — the empathy and humility that the office should require,” Moore told the cheering crowd of 2,500 people, with more listening from an overflow room.
“So while I am thankful for what your administration has meant to Marylanders, and I am very eager to work in partnership with his administration ... I am grateful for what his example has meant to our nation.”
The Maryland Democratic Party, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic National Committee have thrown their collective weight behind Maryland’s Democratic statewide ticket. That’s in contrast to members of the state’s Republican Party, not all of who have united behind Cox, a 2020 election denier.
Following the July primary upset in which Cox defeated Kelly Schulz, GOP Gov. Larry Hogan’s protégé, Maryland Republican Party Chair Dirk Haire released a statement saying that the party would rally behind its nominees. But Hogan has said he won’t vote for Cox and that he believes Moore is guaranteed to win.
With roughly a month left before voters begin receiving mail-in ballots, it’s unclear how much Maryland Republicans and their national counterparts will invest in their candidates in the state. Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2-to-1 in Maryland.
Cox, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, had announced an event nearby Thursday, but canceled it in the late afternoon. He issued a statement saying Moore is promoting Biden’s “failed policies,” such as the decision this week to forgive some student loans.
“I will win this November and vigorously serve the people of Maryland as governor because the failed policies of the Biden administration which Wes Moore is praising, advancing and will implement are disastrous for Maryland,” Cox said.
Moore, an Army veteran, acknowledged Cox by name during his speech Thursday, calling him an “insurrectionist” and a “threat.”
“For me, patriotism meant leaving my family and wearing my nation’s uniform and leading soldiers with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan ... For Dan Cox, patriotism for him means organizing buses to join him on January 6th,” Moore said. “It’s no wonder that the current Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, has said he won’t support him in this race. In fact, he said he wouldn’t even give him a tour of the Governor’s office. Dan Cox is not an opponent, he’s a threat.”
During Biden’s speech, a man seated in front of the president interrupted him, yelling: “You stole the election! You stole it!” He was booed by the crowd and escorted out.
Biden, in a private reception with supporters before his speech, expressed his concerns with what he described as the extremes of the Republican Party.
“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden said. “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the — I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism.”
At the high school, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, Maryland Democratic Party Chair Yvette Lewis, U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, U.S. Rep. Jaime Raskin and Baltimore Del. Brooke Lierman, the party’s nominee for comptroller, joined Biden and Moore on stage, along with Moore’s running mate, Aruna Miller.
Lierman, a two-term delegate and civil rights attorney, will face Republican Harford County Executive Barry Glassman in November. Glassman has stated that he is running an “independent” campaign, rejecting a unified ticket with Cox and Peroutka, the Republican nominee for attorney general.
Lierman adds to the Maryland Democratic Party’s historically diverse ticket. Should Democrats sweep the GOP in the general election, the state would have its first Black governor, first Asian lieutenant governor, first Black attorney general and, in Lierman, the first female to serve as comptroller and the first woman directly elected to statewide office.
“Maryland’s future is on the ballot this year: Because of the federal investments and our historic election this year, we have the opportunity over the next four years to change Maryland for the better for the next 40,” Lierman said. “This year, we can go to the ballot boxes and decide we want our state to be bold, do better — and break a glass ceiling along the way.”
Filling the gymnasium and spilling into the overflow room, Maryland voters showed up for the event — many wearing campaign stickers and waving signs supporting candidates.
Leslie Peters, standing near the stage with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, said her family made a short trip from their home in Rockville to attend their first political rally. Peters, 34, an attorney, said the economy is on her mind “day to day,” but it seems to be improving and she’s more concerned with the cost of buying snacks for her child than what’s going on with the stock market.
”That’s kind of what we see in real life,” Peters said.
Theodore Kiviat, 55, of Clarksburg, said he showed up because Maryland — reliably blue and late on the presidential primary calendar — rarely gets the big visits from presidents. He said he’s supported Moore since the beginning of the primary campaign.
”He’s really shown an ability to lead,” Kiviat said, noting Moore’s role leading Robin Hood, a New York-based nonprofit fighting poverty. “He literally is a self-made man.”
Kiviat and others noted what they called Moore’s charismatic and magnetic personality.
Bibi Khadar-Foston, a 70-year-old retiree from North Laurel, said she met Moore at a July 4th event and was drawn to his buoyant persona.
”I told him that he likes to smile and he’ll be smiling all the way to Annapolis,” she said.
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