In Chicago, Moore is helping the national ticket and helping himself

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) works the room after speaking to the Georgia delegation to the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) is hardly anyone’s idea of an inspiring orator.

The 72-year-old former classroom teacher and principal may be a canny enough politician to have won statewide office in a swing state five times, including two terms as governor. But when he finished his vanilla speech to his home state delegation at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week, the delegates in the room could barely muster a half-hearted chant of “Tony! Tony! Tony!”

The mood in the room changed dramatically moments later, when Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler introduced a visitor.

“I can hear the hubbub,” Wikler said as the next speaker entered the room.

“Our next governor is a dynamic leader — he’s one of our party’s greatest champions,” Wikler said, calling the invited speaker “an honorary Badger.”

With that, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) strode to the hotel ballroom stage.

“WHAT’S UP, WISCONSIN?” he shouted after embracing Wikler, his smile a mile wide, arms waving like one of those guys who runs through the crowd at sporting events to whip up enthusiasm.

Moore went on to describe a recent three-day visit to the Dairy State, where “I saw public service at its best.” He recounted how, in the hours immediately after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge outside Baltimore, he received supportive calls with offers of help from “my friend and your governor, Tony Evers,” from Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), and from “my friend and your former lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes.”

Moore also talked about the importance of Wisconsin in the Electoral College calculus. He exhorted the crowd of Democratic activists to do the work necessary to elect Kamala Harris president. And he vowed to visit Wisconsin again soon, to help them knock on doors and turn out the vote.

“When the story of this election is written, it’s going to be run through Wisconsin,” he said.

The crowd went wild. Moore left the stage and was instantly mobbed by well-wishers seeking hugs and selfies and offering praise. When New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) took to the stage to speak to the Cheeseheads — a purple state gets a lot of attention from national pols — Moore was still greeting his admirers.

This scene has been repeated, with small variations, throughout the convention week.

Moore has stopped by at least seven state delegation breakfasts so far, and the ritual each time is very much the same: An enthusiastic introduction from a party leader. A high wattage greeting from Moore. A recollection by the governor of a recent visit and/or a connection to the state — before the Georgia delegation on Wednesday morning, for example, he recounted his basic Army training at the former Fort Benning.

“I left a lot of sweat and tears in that soil,” he said.

Moore then will recall the generous offers of help from state leaders after the Key Bridge disaster — and he’ll add that Vice President Harris very quickly made a similar call. He’ll remind the Democratic activists to do the work this fall and talk about the political stakes for their states in this election. That’s followed by another swarm of well-wishers.

The energy level, at each of Moore’s breakfast appearances, on a scale of 1 to 10, is somewhere around a 26 — from the governor himself and from the audience.

When they can, the phalanx of Moore aides who are traveling with him throughout the Windy City try to find a space in a nearby hallway and ask his admirers to line up there for greetings and pictures. After he spoke to a joint meeting of the South Carolina and Tennessee delegations Wednesday morning, at least 40 people queued up, the line snaking through the hotel hallway and almost running into the Alaska delegation’s buffet table.

“I’m going to marry him!” one young woman exclaimed to her friends after she bounded away from Moore following a photo.

“He’s great, he’s just great,” said the woman, Kathryn Winsley, a Memphis resident and a member of the Tennessee Young Democrats, in an interview. “He really got the crowd going. He talked about important things in a really relatable way.”

Ambitious, young, high-profile Democrats, part of the next generation of possible contenders for national office some day, are all making the scene around Chicago this week — ostensibly as surrogates for Harris, but to boost their own profile as well. It’s a time-honored tradition of political conventions. In fact, Moore, 45, ran into Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), another up-and-comer, making the same rounds in the same hotel Wednesday morning, and the two men embraced. (The hotel, in fact, is owned by Pritzker’s family.)

But while Pritzker is also a fiery speaker, and a billionaire who talks like a populist and looks like a beer-swilling blue-collar worker, a few dozen people aren’t lining up to take his picture at any given time.

Beyond these delegation appearances, Moore has found time to raise money and do media hits, and he also spoke Tuesday at a forum sponsored by the Black Economic Alliance, where he discussed economic disparities and his desire to expand job opportunities, increase wages, and create more wealth in communities of color. He’s speaking to the Democratic National Committee’s Veterans and Military Families Council on Thursday. And, of course, he’s found time to be with Maryland’s convention delegation, speaking at the first breakfast of the week and sponsoring the first late-night after-party at a fancy billiard hall.

But all of these activities have largely been geared to political insiders and influencers. On Wednesday night, he delivered a speech on the floor of United Center that millions of TV viewers were expected to watch.

Moore’s remarks undoubtedly sounded familiar for politically attuned Marylanders. But for the national TV audience, they may have been a revelation.

Moore began his seven-minute speech also talking about the Key Bridge collapse and Harris’ early call offering assistance. He mentioned his military service and the important lessons he observed.

“My training taught me you never learn anything about anybody when times are easy,” Moore said. “You learn about them when times are hard. And America: Kamala Harris is the right one to lead us in this moment.”

Moore is an integral part of the Democrats’ attempts to reclaim patriotism from the Republicans, who have tried to monopolize the term and the sentiment for decades.

“We are a nation of patriots who serve when the mission is hard and the destination is uncertain,” he said.  “And I know our history isn’t perfect. The unevenness of the American journey has made some skeptical. I’m not asking you to give up your skepticism. I just want that skepticism to be your companion, and not your captor — and I’m asking that you join us in the work.

“Because making America great doesn’t mean telling people: You’re not wanted. Making America great means saying: ‘The ambitions of this country would be incomplete without your help.'”

‘He knows he has a significant role to play’

This was not Moore’s first Democratic convention — or his first convention speech. That occurred in 2008, when he had only recently left the Army.

In an interview this week, he recalled that he had been part of a group of young military veterans who were providing policy advice to both then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic presidential nominee, and the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee.

Obama invited Moore to speak at the Democratic convention, and he readily accepted. While McCain came from a long line of Navy commanders, and his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam was legendary, Moore said he found Obama’s desire to dive into policy admirable.

“I had a deep respect for the fact that while he hadn’t served in the military, he was so unbelievably, intellectually curious about it,” Moore said.

During his speech at that 2008 convention, Moore gave both a nod to the historical nature of Obama’s campaign and also suggested that his candidacy created historic opportunities to get things done.

“This election is not about history,” Moore said then. “This election is not about making history. This election is about seizing history and forging a proper course for our country for the next century.”

The message was remarkably similar to one he delivered during his 2022 campaign for governor — an acknowledgment that while he would be making history if he was elected, “that’s not the assignment.”

Moore’s experience at that Denver convention mainly involved him hanging out with fellow veterans, he recalled, so as a result, “This convention really feels like my first.”

If that’s the case, it’s quite a debut.

“It’s really exciting,” Maryland Democratic Chair Ken Ulman said in an interview. “We’re really proud of him. He’s so focused on being a great governor and being a great leader for Maryland Democrats. But he knows he has a significant role to play in helping elect the next president.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), who is Black, spoke at one of the Maryland Democrats’ breakfasts this week and discussed the symbolic importance of Moore. He said he and his 5-year-old daughter were watching Moore on TV the other night and she was amazed to learn that he was only the third elected Black governor in U.S. history.

“Having a congressman from Colorado talking about how important Wes Moore is to his daughter reminds us of the role Wes Moore plays in national politics,” Ulman said.

Moore has talked at length about Harris, and the importance of the partnership the state has forged with her and President Joe Biden since he became governor. But in a conversation with reporters earlier this week, he also discussed the kinship he feels with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Harris’ running mate.

“Gov. Walz is just like a real dude and I thought that from the first time I met him,” Moore said. “He didn’t come from that political background. He was an Army guy, the way I was an Army guy. He’s a true patriot, someone who is decent-hearted, of the people.”

Moore has also talked at length about the message of hope he believes Harris and Walz are offering the American people, and like every other Democrat in Chicago, said he detects a dramatic shift in tone in the White House campaign. Asked in an interview why he thinks former President Donald Trump is still essentially running even with Harris, Moore replied, “I think the country is still deeply divided. I think [Republicans] have done a really good job of infusing misinformation into the campaign.”

But Moore remains convinced that undecided voters will respond to the Democrats’ “unique vision of hope.”

As for the convention itself, Moore said he’s amazed at how quickly and efficiently organizers pivoted after President Biden chose not to seek reelection and Harris immediately emerged as his preferred successor.

“There’s going to be such an amazing story to be told about this campaign,” Moore said — without acknowledging that he’s playing a role in it.