Politics and Prose is pleased to announce the third in a series of discussions meant to keep our community informed and engaged during this exceptional period in our nation’s political history.
As millions across our region and country suffer from the Trump Administration’s evisceration of federal government services, disregard for the rule of law, and attacks on democratic institutions, states are on the front lines fighting back. Leading the charge are Democratic governors, none more so than Maryland Governor Wes Moore. A rising star in national politics, the first-term chief executive has shown resilience, compassion, and creativity in protecting his state and his constituents from Trump’s policies. Mass firings of federal employees and unprecedented cuts to scientific research, education, public safety, SNAP, Medicaid, and other vital social services have disproportionately impacted Maryland and Marylanders. With a state that’s home to hundreds of thousands of federal workers and an economy dependent on federal labs and facilities, Governor Moore is in the eye of the storm, as Trump continues to dismantle government institutions.
Governor Moore believes that government has a responsibility to answer society’s most vexing problems with clear solutions that make people’s lives better and help deliver results. It’s a mindset he developed throughout his career, from deploying overseas with the 82nd Airborne division to writing best-selling books on the fragile nature of success in America to running one of the largest poverty-fighting organizations in the country. Governor Moore’s reliance on data, evidence, and facts, along with a determination to serve all the people of his state, has made Maryland a bulwark against the harmful tactics of the Trump-Vance Administration.
To help our community better understand the draconian changes sweeping our country, Politics and Prose has been offering a series of events this year featuring leaders from different fields sharing their expertise and offering ways to educate, mobilize, organize, and resist. We are calling these events “Teach-Ins,” inspired by similar community gatherings in the 1960s that provided a foundation for education and tools for action during the civil rights and anti-war movements.
We are proud and honored that Governor Moore will lead our next Teach-In to explain what he and other Democratic governors are doing in response to the second Trump presidency and the vital role that states play in protecting society’s most vulnerable populations–to build a country that, in Governor Moore’s own words, “leaves no one behind.”
We hope you will join us.
Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland. He is Maryland’s first Black Governor in the state’s 246-year history, and is just the third African American elected Governor in the history of the United States.
Born in Takoma Park, Maryland, on October 15, 1978, to Joy and Westley Moore, Moore’s life took a tragic turn when his father died of a rare, but treatable virus when he was just three years old. After his father’s death, his family moved to the Bronx to live with Moore’s grandparents before returning to Maryland at age 14.
In 2005, Moore deployed to Afghanistan as a lieutenant with the 82nd Airborne Division, leading soldiers in combat. Immediately upon returning home, Moore served as a White House Fellow, advising on issues of national security and international relations.
In 2010, Moore wrote “The Other Wes Moore,” a story about the fragile nature of opportunity in America, which became a perennial New York Times bestseller. He went on to write other best-selling books that reflect on issues of race, equity, and opportunity, including his latest book Five Days, which tells the story of Baltimore in the days that followed the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.