Gov. Wes Moore and his potential GOP challengers converge at crab and clam bake

Sam Janesch, The Baltimore Sun on Sep 24, 2025

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Steamed crabs and orange crushes fueled the unofficial kickoff of Maryland’s 2026 campaign season Wednesday as Gov. Wes Moore and some of his potential Republican challengers met at the very southern end of the state.

The J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake in Crisfield — a deeply Republican, pro-Donald Trump enclave in a largely Democratic state — is a tradition for all on Maryland’s political spectrum.

Elected officials, candidates and lobbyists flock to the event every year. And on Wednesday — still more than a year before all state-level politicians will be on the general election ballot — the campaigning was already on full display.

“This is actually my 51st visit out to the Eastern Shore since I’ve been the governor,” Moore said in between mingling with a parade of supporters. “So the people of the Eastern Shore have gotten accustomed to seeing me out here, and they should know we’re going to keep that going.”

The Democrat formally announced his reelection campaign earlier this month, and political analysts have said it will likely be his race to lose, no matter who runs against him.

In the most forceful showing for his campaign so far, dozens of supporters — some of whom arrived by bus from outside the community — wore campaign shirts, waved signs, and chanted, “We need Moore. We want Moore. Vote Wes Moore.” Throngs of people stopped the governor every few steps as he moved through the crowd, asking for selfies and conversations as some of those potential Republican challengers watched nearby.

Moore appeared to stop and talk to only one — Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, a Queen Anne’s County Republican who is exploring a campaign for governor. Another, law enforcement veteran John Myrick, was the only potential GOP candidate to have a formal tent and campaign signs.

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, who represents the area and is the state’s only Republican member of Congress, had also been named by Moore as a potential challenger. Standing just a few feet away from each other without interacting, Harris criticized Moore but said emphatically that he wasn’t going to run for governor himself.

“I love representing the 1st District of Maryland,” Harris said, noting his important committee positions on Capitol Hill. “In fact, in general, some of the best representatives are the ones who are not looking at higher office.”

Asked who he thought could beat Moore, Harris pointed to former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Bob Ehrlich — neither of whom appeared to attend the festivities but who have been vocally critical of Moore. Democrats have been gearing up in particular for Hogan to run, though he has not indicated he’s seriously building another campaign.

“I don’t know what he’s going to do. Personally, I don’t think he’s going to run. I think he’s happy where he is,” Boyd Rutherford, who served as Hogan’s lieutenant governor, told The Baltimore Sun at the Tawes event.

Rutherford said he hears frequently from people who want Hogan to run for another term.

“People miss our administration, and I think particularly in rural areas, like Crisfield, like Somerset County, the things we were able to do for those locales, they didn’t feel forgotten,” Rutherford said.

Jim Long, a 73-year-old retired who worked in food service and a lifelong Somerset County resident, said he thinks Moore has neglected the community in a way that Hogan did not.

“I don’t think Wes Moore’s a bad guy. I don’t think he means bad,” Long said. “But come down here and help us out. Ride around, look at the roads, look at the structures around here, the businesses.”

Moore, meanwhile, arrived at the Tawes festival by boat from nearby Smith Island, where he said he was the first governor to visit since 1999. He spoke of investing $2 million in state funds to get broadband across the entire island.

“This is what it means to leave no one behind,” he said, reiterating his campaign slogan and self-described governing philosophy.

Moore’s appearance coincided with the first endorsements his reelection campaign announced — six current or former Republican elected officials.

“We have worked really hard to revitalize our Main Street. The governor’s been there for us every step of the way and we’re excited about the reinvestment in small towns like ours,” Travis Marion, the mayor of Rising Sun in Cecil County and one of those Republicans, said while standing alongside Moore.

Carl Anderton, a Republican who resigned as an elected delegate on the Eastern Shore to become Moore’s director of rural economic strategy, also referenced state grants that Moore awarded to his hometown.

“Every time I went to his office, asking for some funding or asking for some help and leeway to allow businesses to grow and expand, it was done before I got out of the office,” Anderton said. “Loyalty, man. That’s why. Loyalty.”

Marion and Anderton were among the six endorsers.

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