Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says key Southern races are suddenly competitive for Democrats, and admits his party made a generation-long mistake by writing the region off.
With the 2026 midterms nine days away, the Democratic governor told ABC News that statewide contests across the historically Republican South are now within reach, and that his party waited far too long to treat the region as anything more than a lost cause.
ABC News reported Moore’s remarks from a Sunday appearance on “This Week,” where co-anchor Jonathan Karl pressed him on talk that Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina might actually be competitive.
“They are,” Moore answered. He did not stop at the current cycle.
"They are in play, and we have made mistakes in not investing earlier. And I don't even think just earlier in this cycle -- I think earlier in this generation."
That is a blunt confession from a rising Democratic figure. For years, national Democrats treated large parts of the South as unwinnable territory. Now, with Election Day almost here, Moore is arguing the map looks different, and that the party’s own neglect helped create the problem.
Karl asked whether Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina were “really in play,” and whether Democrats erred by not putting resources in sooner. Moore said yes on both counts.
The ABC News account also noted recent polling that has shown Democratic candidates tied with or leading Republicans in top-of-the-ticket races in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, and Alaska. It said newer surveys point to closer-than-expected statewide races in Florida, South Carolina, and Mississippi. The report did not name pollsters or margins.
Moore framed the South’s long drought for Democrats in personal terms.
"I am the third African American ever elected governor in the history of the United States of America. That's not because I'm the third African American ever qualified. That's because oftentimes there's been chronic underinvestment."
He pointed to Democratic candidates he cast as potential breakthroughs: Gina Hinojosa in Texas, Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, and Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina. Moore said his own campaign “personally invested” in Hinojosa’s gubernatorial bid. He offered no dollar figure or form of support.
History alone, he insisted, is not the job.
"The wonderful thing that I feel about Gina or Keisha [Lance Bottoms in Georgia] or, or Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina is that they would be history-making candidates, but making history is not the assignment. The assignment is to win."
Moore listed governing goals he said should define that assignment: expanding health care, ending child poverty, and raising wages. If candidates can deliver on those, he argued, they can improve life in their states, and have a real shot at winning.
Voters in the South have heard versions of that pitch before. What they have not always seen is sustained Democratic investment, local organization, and candidates who campaign on kitchen-table results instead of national branding. Moore’s own words put that failure on his party’s ledger.
Moore said Democratic energy is not merely high, he said the base is bigger. He claimed he is seeing that across Maryland while campaigning for re-election, and while stumping for what he called “common-sense leaders” elsewhere.
He tied the mood to opposition politics. People want leadership that will “push back against this corruption from [President] Donald Trump,” Moore said, and “push forward for a new direction.” That was Moore’s characterization, not a finding of any investigation cited in the interview coverage.
Karl then tested the 2028 question. He noted Moore had been clear for the past year that he was not running for president, but seemed “a little less clear now.” Had he changed his mind?
“You know, no, because I’m very focused on--,” Moore began. Karl pressed again: was he committed to a full term as governor?
"Yeah, I wouldn't be running for re-election if I was thinking about anything else, to be clear. My entire focus right now is on the people of Maryland."
That is the standard posture for ambitious governors in a midterm year. Deny the higher race. Talk about the state. Keep the national stage warm.
Karl still walked Moore through a quick word-association drill on possible 2028 Democrats. Moore’s answers were short and glowing: Sen. Mark Kelly was a “remarkable veteran.” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was “remarkably competent.” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was a “really solid advocate.” Former Vice President Kamala Harris was a “really decent person and great vice president.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom was a “strong leader.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a “passionate advocate.”
None of those lines cost Moore anything. None forced a choice. In a party already jockeying for 2028, polite adjectives are the safest currency.
Moore’s interview landed as Democrats try to turn late polling movement into actual wins in places the party long treated as afterthoughts. He named the mistake: underinvestment, not just this cycle, but across a generation. He named candidates he wants voters to take seriously. He insisted Maryland remains his only race.
What he did not supply were hard numbers, on polls, on spending, or on how much his campaign’s “personal” investment in Texas amounted to. The public record in the interview is political judgment and campaign talk, not a ledger.
Southern voters can judge the rest. A party that spent years writing off their states now says the races are live. The candidates still have to win on wages, schools, crime, and growth, not on a last-minute admission that the national machine showed up late.
When Democrats finally confess they abandoned a region, taxpayers there are right to ask what took so long, and whether the conversion lasts past Election Day.
