The following is a transcript of an interview with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Sept. 15, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re joined now by Maryland Democratic Governor, Wes Moore. He’s a member of the Harris campaign’s National Advisory Board. Governor, I have a lot to get to with you, but I want to start on where we left the conversation with the senator from Ohio, JD Vance. He argues that talking about this strain on the local community from migrant populations should not be dismissed as racist by the Harris campaign, and should be discussed on its merits, merits. What do you make of the continued push to focus the conversation here?
GOV. WES MOORE: Well, I mean, there’s a remarkable amount of not just inaccuracies, but dog whistling that we heard from that. But you know, of all the many things that I think were really problematic with what Senator Vance said when at the end of the interview, when he started talking about the just some local elected official and what they have to say. These are people who are closest to the ground. These are the people who are closest to their constituents. These are public servants, and these are partners inside the work. And in the case of that Mayor, that’s a Republican who’s saying that that this isn’t about politics, and it’s not not about politicizing this issue. We know that to be able to address these issues, and particularly big, complex issues like the border crisis that our nation continues to confront, we have to do it in partnership. And I think when you’re hearing those kind of comments from someone who is who is aspiring to be the Vice President of the United States, I think for all of us as local and statewide elected officials, it just gives a sense about how he views partnership and how he views the intelligence that’s coming from us who are on the ground having to deal with these challenges.
MARGARET BRENNAN
The governor of Ohio, a Republican, also, again today, said the claims being made there were not borne out by fact. But he’s also asking for federal help with a very real thing – strain from the migrant population. Should the Harris campaign talk about that more? Should the federal government be doing more?
GOV. WES MOORE: Yeah, well, the federal government absolutely needs to do more, as does Congress, and I think that that’s part of the reason why the frustration that we saw when it came to things like the border deal. Which was a bipartisan deal that we had both Democrat and Republican support for that one of the anchors and one of the one of the authors was one of the most conservative people within Congress, Senator Lankford. And the deal was killed because Donald Trump said that this was not going to be advantageous to my campaign. So the challenge is, is what we’re seeing from from both Donald Trump and JD Vance, is we’re receiving political talking points, but we’re not what we’re not receiving actually actionable ideas to be able to address the issue.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But I guess on the issue of empathy or understanding, should there be more recognition? Not just, oh we tried and it didn’t get through up at the national level, but on the local. Reach out to Governor DeWine and say, I understand you have problems with your hospitals, with your safety, with the languages. Those things are real.
GOV. WES MOORE: Yes, they are real. And frankly, those conversations have happened. You know, we’ve had conversations for continuing on for months, with the White House, with the administration, about what we’re seeing on the ground and about the supports that we need. So, we know that we actually have an administration that is working in partnership with us. And in the case of Vice President Harris, we have a presidential candidate who actually uses the power of personal connection to be able to connect with us as state and local leaders. From what we’re seeing in the state of Maryland, what other governors are seeing around the country, and actually coming up with plans together to be able to address this crisis.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about the Harris campaign, because you are out campaigning for them, and there’s a big push in the coming days to focus in on black voters in particular. The NAACP released a poll on Friday that showed while Black Americans overwhelmingly overwhelmingly identify as Democrats, over one quarter of Black men under 50 said they would support The Republican candidate in this year’s election. Why do you think that younger male Black voters are changing their association like this?
GOV. WES MOORE: You know, I think there is a, you know, especially for younger black men, there is a frustration. But it’s not necessarily frustration with Vice President Harris, and it’s not even frustration with the Democratic Party. Frankly, it’s a frustration of the pace of progress in America. You know, I think about my state, in my state, when I was inaugurated, we had an 8 to 1 racial wealth gap in the state of Maryland, and that’s not because one group was working eight times harder. That’s because of historical policies and circumstances. When I’m I’m the third African American ever elected governor in the history of the United States. That’s not because I’m only the third African American ever qualified to be a governor. And so I think the thing that we continue to see, and frankly, I think that debate was actually a perfect illustration. Where for many of us, we grew up being told by our family members, you’ve got to work 10 times as hard in order to get ahead, in order to get an opportunity. We saw Donald Trump walk on that debate stage uniquely and historically unprepared. And because he thinks he can win on a whim. And so I think the frustration that people feel is real, but I think the thing that we’re continuing to push to a lot of voters, particularly African American voters, is that Donald Trump is a vessel to the skepticism, but what he is not is actually a vehicle for the solution.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about something on the debate stage that the Vice President said. I know you served in the Army and you deployed to Afghanistan. During the debate, Vice President Harris said this:
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VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world. The first time this century,
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MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s false. That’s alienating the military families. What was the intent?
GOV. WES MOORE: Well, I think what was, what the intent was, was that this is not, you know, counter to the to the convictions of the Trump administration that somehow our world was safer under him, or we had less people in conflict. That is just not true. But I think the really important thing to remember is, is that we do have people who are in harm’s way every single day. We have, we have soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, coast guardsmen, who every single day, are out there with our flag on their shoulder and who are defending our freedoms and defending our values. We have to make sure that we’re not just supporting them in their operations, but also making sure that we’re supporting them when they come back home, making sure that we’re supporting their families. And frankly, what we have seen from this administration, where we saw an administration who was able to pass things like the PACT Act to make sure that we are addressing, we’re addressing the people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan who are having burn pit exposure, that we actually have an administration who is focusing on things like being able to support a Department of Veterans Affairs. And the thing that we’ve actually heard, in fact, recently, as recently as yesterday, from Senator Vance is that he wants to privatize the Department of Veterans Affairs. We’ve got to make sure we’re supporting our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen and marines, not just while they’re deployed, but also while they are coming home. And frankly, we have one campaign, the Harris Walz campaign, that actually has a vision for that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Governor, thank you for your time today. We’ll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.