Maryland Governor Wes Moore is facing a fresh wave of criticism over the accuracy of his personal and family history. A recent report has cast doubt on Moore’s long-standing story that his grandfather was "run out" of South Carolina by the Ku Klux Klan. This latest controversy follows previous reports questioning his military record and academic credentials at Oxford University.
Moore has frequently shared the story of his grandfather, James Thomas, as a centerpiece of his political identity. During a 2023 interview with Time, Moore described himself as the grandson of someone who "was run outta this country by the Ku Klux Klan." He previously detailed how Thomas, a minister in South Carolina, fled to Jamaica in the middle of the night following threats from the Klan.
A report by the Washington Free Beacon suggests the exit was far less dramatic than the Governor portrays. Historical records from the Protestant Episcopal Church indicate that Thomas’s departure was actually an orderly professional transfer to replace a deceased pastor in Jamaica. Archival data also suggests the local community held Thomas’s church in high regard, with no mention of racial animus.
The scrutiny over his grandfather’s story comes as Moore, a rumored 2028 presidential hopeful, faces questions about other aspects of his biography. Critics on social media have pointed to several other alleged discrepancies in his record, including his academic history. Reports indicate that Moore claimed on a 2006 application to be a doctoral student at Oxford, but the university has no record of such a thesis.
Moore’s office has dismissed the report as a "partisan" attack on a "family’s century-old oral history." A spokesperson emphasized that racial terror was pervasive in the Jim Crow South and rarely came with neat documentation. They argued the Governor remains focused on his current job rather than litigating historical records.
Despite the mounting questions, Moore remains a prominent figure in the Democratic Party. He was recently featured at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and is often discussed as a future national leader. Conservative commentators, however, suggest that Moore is reaching "Biden levels of fabulism" as his life story continues to face public verification.