Wes Moore

By increasing state investments in health care and childcare, we will ensure that we elevate our communities, help Marylanders participate in our economy and stimulate long-term growth.

Many kids are simply looking for some kind of acceptance. They're looking for someone to 'bring them in.'

Even when I was young, there were times I could tell my mother wasn't handling my father's death well, but she was trying to make life for us as normal as possible. She was shielding us from loss and the meaning of loss, though she ended up losing control of her own life in many ways.

I vowed we would defy the national politics of hyperpolarization and partisan divides and instead, build bridges of partnership.

After taking office, I vowed that the Moore-Miller administration would focus on four key pillars of progress in our first legislative session: elevating service, rebuilding state government, ending child poverty, and building an economy that is both equitable and competitive.

We are making our state economically competitive by supporting small businesses through new programs to help entrepreneurs break into modern industries - from renewable energy technology to quantum computing.

Our state will show the nation how we can end childhood poverty through a major expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, which will lift at least 34,000 Maryland children to the next rung on the economic ladder.

I remember the first time I brought my son and daughter to Camden Yards. I can still feel the magic of watching them cheer for their favorite team, screaming 'Let's Go O's!' I can see their smiles and the smiles of Marylanders from all backgrounds, who shared one hope: to watch the home team pull out another win.

Camden Yards is more than a ballpark, it's a piece of Maryland's identity.

Major decisions of generational significance aren't given, they're earned.

By keeping the Orioles at Camden Yards for the long run - regardless of ownership structure - we've sent a clear message to the private sector: Investing in Baltimore is a winning strategy.

We stand committed to strengthening programs like Medicaid, now and into the future, because a healthier Maryland means more people of all backgrounds can work, grow and thrive.

Investments in health care help us support individuals who have been historically left behind - from people with disabilities to people in poverty to working families who can't access care that many of us take for granted.

It's not fun being locked in a six foot by eight foot cell.

Challenges years in the making can't be solved overnight.

The keystone of our fiscal strategy is economic growth.

We often adhere to the myth that if you advocate for cutting spending, you're a Republican, and if you are willing to raise taxes, you're a Democrat. But I reject these false choices.

When jobs are available, communities are safe and opportunity abounds, everyone wins.

The key to long-term success is consistent and robust economic growth.

Economic growth is our North Star. Anyone who suggests we can just cut our way to prosperity isn't being honest. Anyone who suggests we can just tax our way to prosperity isn't being honest either.

We lead through partnership - offering solutions forged in principle, not partisanship; in data, not demagoguery; in ideas, not ideology.

When you think about what Black women have meant to us Black women have always been our guide. Black women have always been the ones to, when the whole world denied us, they defended us. And they lifted us up.

I married someone who I love and who I respect and who I adore, and someone who I am so thankful is on my side.

I am where I am because people worked to make sure higher education was accessible and affordable to me. It is our societal and moral obligation to do the same for others.

The U.S. Army took on a lion's share of my tuition as I entered college. My mother, by completing the financial aid forms, helped pay the rest of the costs. In all honesty, without that financial aid, I would not have chosen Johns Hopkins University for my undergraduate education.

When I made the decision to run for governor, I couldn't help but think about the person who first inspired me to live a life of public service. My mother is an immigrant to this country who arrived here as a child from Jamaica.

In Maryland, we will continue to fight to protect collective bargaining rights, ensure fair wages and benefits, and secure better working conditions for all Marylanders.

We will continue to be Maryland Strong because we will continue to be Union Strong.

Maryland will always have the backs of working people and organized labor.

I'm pretty religious about the gym. It's as much mental as it is anything else.

The simple life is not what I do.

I really didn't come from a political family. I didn't come from, like, a political world. It wasn't tribal for me.

My journey has been littered with luck.

It is incumbent on Maryland's leaders to protect the core functions that serve Maryland's people, to make strategic investments vital to our state's future and to protect the savings critical to protecting us in the event of any economic downturn.

We can achieve big, momentous things for our state, our children and our future. But we can only do so if we pull together, prioritize and target our investments strategically.

No child should be worried about where their next meal will come from or whether they'll have a roof over their heads.

We need to ensure that Marylanders who work hard are rewarded with better pathways to work, wages and wealth.

With wisdom and grit, my mom was able to lift me and my family to a higher rung on the economic ladder.

Education has been my ultimate equalizer, my door opener, my salvation.

We need to be abundantly clear on this - people living in poverty are the victims, not the perpetrators of it.

Poverty is not a state of mind, and escaping concentrated and generational hardship is an unimaginable mountain to climb.

Poverty is a horrible, bedeviling force that invades and infects every aspect of our lives and communities - our homes, our pantries, our schools, our careers, and our health.

I grew up on the brink of poverty in Baltimore and the Bronx during the '80s and '90s. I remember those streets you couldn't pass through after dark, navigating them at a dead sprint, trying to get home safely and without getting in trouble with my mom. Living in a chronically neglected community felt like living in a state of constant siege.

I come from a family of preachers and teachers.

I can tell you countless instances of this country's history of brutality, of inequity, of heartlessness. But if I do that without also talking about the other elements of its history, that's a selective memory that I think is dangerous.

I'm just truly offended when I hear people call themselves patriots whose definition is trying to destroy democracy. What's patriotic about trying to overturn elections? What's patriotic about saying that your neighbors don't deserve support?

Let's be clear: the worst offenders in our state, who commit heinous crimes, must be kept away from our communities. That is a matter of basic public safety.

We have made a concerted effort to build new bonds of trust and communication between the governor's office and other corners of society. It's part of our obligation as public servants.

When it comes to issues related to our justice system, you need to look at all of the stakeholders involved - from local law enforcement to families to state services to legislator, to probation officers to state's attorneys and beyond.

When we say we want to take an all-of-the-above approach to public safety, we mean all of the above. As elected officials, we have a number of tools in our toolbox - from executive orders, to targeted investments, to new programs and, yes, to legislation too.