Maryland
In Chicago, Moore is helping the national ticket and helping himself – Maryland Matters
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 begin 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.’”
[subbed] ‘He knows he has a significant role to play’ [/subhed]
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.
Taulia Tagovailoa brought Maryland four years of stability at the quarterback position — and gave coach Mike Locksley a boost as he guided the program back to respectability.
Now the Terrapins have to show they can keep winning without their star passer.
By the time Tagovailoa was done at Maryland, he’d become the Big Ten’s career leader in yards passing, and although the Terps never totally broke through against the top teams on their schedule, they have won a bowl game in three straight seasons for the first time in program history. Now there are a handful of candidates to fill Tagovailoa’s shoes.
“There’s no uncertainty at quarterback,” Locksley said. “We’ve got a quarterback in our program. We have a few quarterbacks in our program that we think can play winning football.”
Billy Edwards Jr. quarterbacked Maryland in the Music City Bowl last season against Auburn. MJ Morris started seven games over the past two seasons for North Carolina State before transferring to Maryland. Cameron Edge, at the time a redshirt freshman, also played in the win over Auburn and threw a touchdown pass.
“The one thing that comes out of this competition is that I feel very comfortable with the quarterback room,” Locksley said. “No matter who wins the job, we feel like we’ve got the depth that you need to have in the Big Ten.”
Returning production
Whoever is taking snaps should have some solid options to throw and hand off to. Roman Hemby is back after rushing for 680 yards last season, although that was a drop from 2022, when he ran for 989 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Hemby had 46 fewer carries last season.
“I definitely want to take a step forward, but at the end of the day I feel like our coaches do a really good job putting us in the position to be successful,” Hemby said. “However we can get victories is how we’re going to do it here. We kind of try to play the hot hand.”
Receivers Tai Felton and Kaden Prather combined for 90 catches a season ago.
Stingier
Tagovailoa’s presence at times masked defensive issues at Maryland, but last year the Terps took a step in the right direction. They held opponents to 22.5 points per game, the team’s lowest mark since 2010.
“We’re counting on the leadership on that side as we’ve become a defensive-esque team,” Locksley said. “The leadership on that side has been great.”
Questions up front
Aside from Kyle Long, who started six games last season, Maryland returns little in the way of offensive line experience. The Terps have added transfers Aliou Bah (Georgia), Alan Herron (Division II Shorter) and Josh Kaltenberger (Purdue) to the mix.
The schedule
The Terps open the season on August 31 against UConn and play an intriguing nonconference game at Virginia on Sept. 14.
After years of being stuck in the same division as Ohio State and Michigan, Maryland avoids both those teams this year, but the Terrapins do face a couple of tough Big Ten newcomers. They host Southern California on Oct. 19 and play at Oregon on Nov. 9.
With the season set to kickoff this weekend, here’s some of the big storylines in Maryland high school football in 2024.
After one of the most successful runs in Maryland state public football history at Henry A. Wise, DaLawn Parrish has a new challenge at Westlake.
Parrish won 179 games and six Class 4A state titles in 18 seasons at Wise, including the 2023 championship. He stepped down in February to become coach at Westlake, near his home in Charles County (Md.).
Parrish, who started the Wise program in 2006, inherits a Westlake program that finished 6-6 last season with mostly underclassmen.
“There’s a lot of talent in the SMAC and there’s a lot of involvement from the community,” said Parrish, whose two daughters attend Westlake, and whose wife is an alum. “You can tell that athletics at Westlake has a great tradition and not just in football.”
Parrish’s tenure at Westlake will start with road games at Northern-Calvert, which won the Class 3A title in 2021, and 2023 state finalists Calvert (2A/1A) and Huntingtown (2A).
With Parrish now at Westlake, Steve Rapp has the coaching reins at the Prince George’s County (Md.) powerhouse. Rapp has been the Pumas’ offensive coordinator since 2013.
Rapp, who’s been part of five Wise championships, knows expectations remain high.
“Pressure is man-made. It’s only about us all the time,” said Rapp. “When we master us, we’ll master the situation.”
Wise will again be a title favorite in Class 4A, led by University of Oklahoma commit Trent Wilson (defensive end) and one of the state’s best two-way performers in running back/linebacker DeCarlos Young (Temple).
With Parrish leading a Westlake program that has championship DNA (won 3A state title in 2008), the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference could be the state’s premier public league.
Last year, Calvert (2A/1A), Huntingtown (2A) and North Point (4A/3A) played for state championships. In 2022, North Point claimed its first crown (4A/3A) while Patuxent was neck-and-neck with perennial state power Dunbar in the fourth quarter in the 2A/1A title match before falling. Northern-Calvert won the 3A championship in 2021.
Since the state football playoffs expanded from four to six classifications in 2021, seven SMAC programs have reached the state quarterfinals.
The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, the state’s largest private high school athletic league, will have several changes this season.
The A Conference will feature eight teams with Concordia Prep and St. Mary’s joining from the B. Concordia Prep won B titles in 2023 and 2021 while St. Mary’s claimed three championships (2022, 2018 and 2017) over the previous six full seasons.
The schools will join Calvert Hall, Gilman School, Loyola Blakefield, McDonogh School, Mount St. Joseph and Archbishop Spalding in the A. Spalding has won the last two A championships.
The B Conference will also have eight teams as St. Vincent Pallotti, who spent the previous three seasons in the A, returns to the B. After back-to-back titles in the now-defunct C, Severn School joins the B along with St. John’s Catholic Prep.
Archbishop Curley, Boys’ Latin School, John Carroll School, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Paul’s School make up the rest of the B field.
Annapolis Area Christian School, which was part of the C Conference, will play an independent schedule in 2024. St. Frances, another MIAA member school, has been playing as a national independent schedule since 2019.
With senior quarterback Malik Washington back, Spalding will try for the first championship 3-peat in A play since St. Frances (2016-18). Washington, who’s committed to the University of Maryland, is undefeated as a starter in league play (16-0; including playoffs).
The B Conference race in 2024 appears to be wide open. John Carroll reached the championship game last season while Curley may have the league’s top player in two-way linemen Skylar Harvey, who’s committed to Syracuse. Pallotti should be a factor in its return after taking lumps in the A (1-17).
St. Frances will be collecting more frequent flier miles in 2024. The Panthers, ranked 14th in SBLive/Sports Illustrated National Top 25, are set to travel over 18,000 miles over seven states including two trips to California.
St. Frances will play Orange Lutheran (Sept. 6) and consensus national No. 1 Mater Dei (Sept. 20). The Panthers go to Dallas for a national showdown with Duncanville (Tex.) on Sept. 14.
The small Baltimore City private school will play its first 10 games on the road, with stops in Florida, Indiana, and New Jersey. The Panthers, who don’t have an on-campus field, play their first “home game” Nov. 1 against IMG Academy (Fla.) at Morgan State University.
Last season, St. Frances (5-6) traveled over 7,500 miles, playing games in California, Florida, Georgia and Utah. The Panthers played in Florida, Hawaii, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas in 2022.
If able to successfully navigate its daunting road schedule, St. Frances will have a strong case to be the nation’s No. 1 squad.
Fort Hill and Dunbar, two of the state’s most successful public programs, seek to reach rarified air in 2024. Both schools will attempt to win a fourth consecutive state championship.
The Sentinels, who’ve won seven of the last nine Class 1A titles, ran off four in a row from 2013 to 2016 to join Urbana (1998-2001) as the only programs to accomplish the feat. The Western Maryland school is 39-1 over the last three seasons.
The Poets will start the season with the state’s longest winning streak at 38. The Baltimore City program claimed its state-best 13th championship with the 2A/1A crown last year.
Dunbar and Fort Hill will meet Sept. 13 at Morgan State University.
“It’s been an amazing 15 years.” WTOP caught up with longtime frontman Rome Ramirez, who took over as the new lead singer of Sublime in 2009.
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews Sublime with Rome at Live! Casino in Maryland (Part 1)
We don’t practice Santeria, we ain’t got no crystal ball, but we do know that this is a last-chance opportunity.
Music fans in the D.C. area have exactly one week until Sublime with Rome brings its “Farewell Tour” to The Hall at Live! Casino & Hotel in Arundel Mills, Maryland on Wednesday, Aug. 28.
WTOP caught up with longtime frontman Rome Ramirez, who took over as the new lead singer of Sublime in 2009 after the tragic death of the band’s founder Bradley Nowell in 1996.
“It’s been an amazing 15 years, we’ve gotten to tour the world and put out some great albums,” Ramirez told WTOP. “It’s been an absolute pleasure, a journey to say the least, but I have some music of my own that I want to put a lot of my focus into. … This year has been such an amazing send-off celebration with the fans, it’s been emotional and awesome. It’s a real blessing to be able to connect with the fans one last time under this outfit.”
Ramirez was born in Fremont, California in 1988, the same exact year that Sublime formed in Long Beach, California with Nowell on vocals and guitar, Eric Wilson on bass guitar and Bud Gaugh on drums.
Their breakthrough album “40 Oz. To Freedom” (1992) featured memorable tracks for die-hard Sublime fans, including “Waiting for My Ruca,” “Smoke Two Joints,” “Badfish,” “Rivers of Babylon” and an arguably superior cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias.” As for their second album “Robbin’ the Hood” (1994), Ramirez’s favorite was “STP,” sampling Smokey Robinson, while fans will also remember the Gwen Stefani collaboration “Saw Red.”
Still, it was their self-titled third album “Sublime” (1996) that became iconic with the decade’s most singable ska-punk and reggae-rock tunes, including “Santeria,” “Doin’ Time,” “What I Got,” “Wrong Way” and “Caress Me Down.” Tragically, Nowell died of a heroin overdose that same year, leaving Sublime fans with only three albums.
“They didn’t really have a lot of music that they put out, but it’s a testament to how good the music is because it stands the test of time,” Ramirez said. “When I heard the band I was 12, so Bradley had been dead for a couple years. I was pretty bummed out that I wouldn’t ever be able to see them live. … I started hanging out with Eric, he’d have these parties, and one day, he was like, ‘Do you wanna play some Sublime songs?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah, man!’”
In 2009, Ramirez first joined Sublime on stage at Cypress Hill’s Smoke Out Festival in San Bernardino, California, officially joining Wilson and Gaugh to record their first Sublime with Rome album “Yours Truly” (2011). While Gaugh left in 2011, Wilson remained for two more albums “Sirens” (2015) and “Blessings” (2019) before departing earlier this year just months before the release of their fourth and final album “Sublime with Rome” (2024).
Now, after the Sublime with Rome “Farewell Tour” concludes, Ramirez will pursue his promising solo career, while Bradley’s son, Jakob Nowell, will carry on the legacy of Sublime with Gaugh on drums and Wilson on bass.
“It’s a really beautiful thing,” Ramirez said. “He’ll be taking over the torch, and moving forward, you’ll be able to see Sublime with him as the singer. It’s a beautiful project in and of itself, it’s so much closer to his family and I feel like it’s his time to shine now with the songs. The theoretical baton has been passed, so it’s a beautiful thing.”
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previews Sublime with Rome at Live! Casino in Maryland (Part 2)
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