Gov. Wes Moore stands by Biden, says he's not looking back in 'hindsight'

Sam Janesch, Baltimore Sun on May 22, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

As Democrats reevaluate their past support for then-President Joe Biden amid new reports that some people around him were concerned for his health and mental acuity while he was in office, Gov. Wes Moore said this week he isn’t wavering.

The Maryland Democrat was a fierce defender and active campaign surrogate for Biden before he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in late July. Moore appeared on national television and traveled to swing states, saying repeatedly that Biden had come through for Maryland and was equipped to handle the job of president for another term.

Asked this week whether he was reevaluating that message in light of the new reporting, Moore said, “Not at all.”

“I don’t get into the whole hindsight and all that kind of stuff,” Moore told reporters Wednesday. “I have not had enough time to think about any of that stuff. But what I do know is the experience that I had with the president showed that he had a huge deal of concern for the state when it mattered most, and I’m always going to appreciate it.”

Moore said he had not read “Original Sin,” the book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that details concerns among Biden’s aides — including that Biden forgot the names of associates and might have needed to use a wheelchair if reelected.

The governor said he also had not heard the newly released audio recording of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur in which the president struggled to answer questions and remember when he left office as vice president or when his son died.

Moore is mentioned only in passing in “Original Sin,” primarily in reference to a July 3 meeting at the White House when Democratic governors convened to hear from Biden after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Talking to reporters on the White House lawn after leaving the meeting, Moore said the group was “honest about the feedback” and “concerns” they were hearing from people. But he also said it was “time to mount up” and support Biden because the president was clear about continuing the campaign.

According to the book, governors like Ned Lamont of Connecticut politely talked to Biden during the meeting about his age and suggested it might be better for him to step aside. Moore and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, “praised him and said they were all in,” according to the book.

The only other mention of Moore in the book is in the recounting of George Clooney’s July 10 op-ed in The New York Times. Advocating for a new Democratic nominee and an abbreviated primary, Clooney wrote, “Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others. Let’s agree that the candidates not attack one another but, in the short time we have, focus on what will make this country soar. Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out.”

Clooney, a powerful voice and fundraiser in Democratic politics, last month told Tapper on CNN that Moore in particular was a “proper leader” who “could be someone we could all join in behind” in the next presidential election.

Moore has said he is “not running for president in 2028.”

As some other potential 2028 contenders voice concerns about the new revelations about Biden, Moore said he could only speak to what he saw personally: a president who took his calls and spoke to him in detail when, for instance, they traveled together in Marine One to survey the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in April 2024.

“I’m literally hearing the president of the United States ask me about things like bridge spans and walkable paths. I mean, detailed things,” Moore said. “I couldn’t believe that it’s the president of the United States going into that level of detail with me about it.”