Moore’s ex-campaign manager helping to run a new anti-Hogan PAC

Gov. Wes Moore (D) at a recent Cabinet meeting in Caroline County. Photo by Joe Andrucyk/Executive Office of the Governor.

Gov. Wes Moore’s former campaign manager, who spent the last year and a half as a senior adviser and director of engagement to the governor, has left the administration to help run a new super PAC that aims to defeat former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in the U.S. Senate election.

Ned Miller’s new assignment is part of a recent reshuffling of some of Moore’s top advisers – movement that includes the departure of a deputy chief of staff, Lucinda Ware, and the arrival of a new chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D).

The exit of Miller and Ware from the State House means two of the governor’s savviest political strategists are out of the administration. But both remain part of Moore’s political orbit.

Miller left the administration recently to work as a campaign adviser to several candidates and political entities, both in Maryland and beyond. But his primary task is to help helm the Unity First PAC, which was registered with the Federal Election Commission in April.

There is little public information available to date about the PAC’s mission and who set it up. It was registered by Blue Summit Solutions, a national Democratic compliance firm that does campaign finance work, and a Blue Summit executive serves as the committee treasurer.

Coincidentally, Miller offers a testimonial on Blue Summit’s website.

Sophia Silbergeld, Moore’s top political fundraiser and a general adviser for his campaign activities, said Monday that, “Unity First supports Democratic candidates in Maryland to ensure we maintain a majority in the U.S. Senate and retake the majority in the House of Representatives.”

While the super PAC was created to spotlight and play in potentially competitive congressional races in the state, multiple Maryland Democrats said it was primarily organized in opposition to Hogan’s Senate candidacy, which means it is likely to start putting out anti-Hogan ads and literature deeper into the campaign season. Early donors will be made public when the next quarterly campaign finance reports are submitted to the FEC in mid-July.

Hogan is running for the open U.S. Senate seat against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D), a close ally of Moore’s.

Ware, meanwhile, who had one of the longest political resumes in the administration – and was one of Moore’s few top staffers with significant government experience at the state and local level – has left to reignite her political consulting business. But Moore’s campaign committee is a principal client of Ware’s, and among other things she is focusing on the governor’s national political work as he becomes a top surrogate for President Biden’s reelection and other Democratic campaigns.

“Obviously this is a huge cycle in Maryland and the governor is committed to keeping Maryland blue,” said Connor Lounsbury, a spokesperson for Moore’s political operation.

Before Ware left the State House, Moore promoted two other top aides to deputy chief of staff jobs – Emmanuel Welsh, who had been the governor’s liaison to the Board of Public Works, and Pokuaa Owusu-Acheaw, who had been the lieutenant governor’s chief of staff.

Owusu-Acheaw was handling both roles for several weeks, but two weeks ago Miller brought on a new chief of staff, Geri Royale Byrd. For the past two-plus years, Byrd has been director of community and external affairs for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and before that she worked for Mayson-Dixon Properties and Development in Baltimore.

Byrd’s government experience includes three-plus years in administrative jobs in Baltimore City Hall under former Mayors Jack Young (D) and Catherine Pugh (D) and time working in the U.S. Treasury Department during the Obama administration.

“Geri stood out immediately as the right person for this role, and I am confident that she has the experience, expertise, and drive needed to support improved outcomes for Marylanders,” the lieutenant governor said in a statement. “Geri understands the unique opportunities and challenges within our state and region based on her past work, and she has a proven track record of advancing change through effective partnership building.”

Two other high-level staffers left the Moore administration in recent weeks for political jobs.

Nick London, who had been a special assistant to the governor, exited shortly before the Maryland primary in the spring to become campaign manager for former U.S. Commerce Department official April McClain Delaney (D) in the 6th District. During the 2022 campaign he had served as a field director for Moore and a get-out-the-vote coordinator for the Maryland Democratic Party.

Shelby Friedman, who had been a special assistant to Fagan Harris, Moore’s chief of staff, and later was secretary to the Moore Cabinet, left the administration in April to become finance coalitions deputy director at the Democratic National Committee. She had also worked for Moore’s campaign, as deputy finance director and then as development director for the Moore-Miller inaugural committee.

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