Maryland Gov Wes Moore in hot seat after report questions claim about grandfather and KKK
Maryland’s Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, widely believed to have White House ambitions, is facing questions over the accuracy of a story about his family’s background involving being forced to flee the state of South Carolina due to threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
"I am literally the grandson of someone who was run out of this country by the Ku Klux Klan, right?" Moore told Time magazine in 2023 in a conversation about how he "reconciles Patriotism" with the country’s "racist past."
"Right? So the fact that I can be both this grandson of someone who was run outta this country by the Ku Klux Klan, and also be the first Black governor in the history of the state of Maryland."
Moore has frequently referenced his grandfather, James Thomas, as the figure in this story, including during a 2020 appearance on the Yang Speaks podcast titled "Wes Moore on how the KKK ran his family into exile," where he detailed how his grandfather was a minister in Winnsboro, South Carolina, who fled to Jamaica after being threatened by the klan.
However, a Washington Free Beacon report last week cast doubt on the specifics of that story.
The report claims that historical records from the Protestant Episcopal Church and contemporary newspaper reports indicate that Thomas’s departure was not a secret, middle-of-the-night escape, but an orderly and public professional transfer after he was appointed to replace a deceased pastor in Jamaica.
Additionally, archival data and the diocese's own historical accounts suggest that the White community in Pineville, S.C., actually held Thomas’s church in high regard for its medical services, with no mention of racial animus or Klan interference during his tenure.
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Fox News Digital has not independently verified the claims in the report and Moore's office pushed back in a statement to Fox News.
"We’re not going to litigate a family’s century-old oral history with a partisan outlet," Moore spokesperson Ammar Moussa told Fox News Digital, in reference to the Washington Free Beacon report. "The broader reality is not in dispute: intimidation and racial terror were pervasive in the Jim Crow South, and it rarely came with neat documentation. Even Bishop William Alexander Guerry — whom they cite to suggest there was no hostility — was later murdered amid intense backlash tied to his racial equality work. The Governor is focused on doing the job Marylanders elected him to do."
The report on Moore’s portrayal of his grandfather’s life story added fuel to the fire of scrutiny the rumored 2028 White House hopeful has already faced for previous stories about his record, including questions about his military record and an Oxford University thesis, both reported on by the Washington Free Beacon and both brought up by users on social media in recent days.
"Wes Moore is being talked about as one of the top contenders in the 2028 Democratic primary and the guy has already told more lies about his life than Elizabeth Warren," Greg Price, Trump White House rapid response manager for the first half of 2025, posted on X.
"Moore is reaching Biden levels of fabulism," National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru posted on X.
"Hoo boy," Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume posted on X. "Read this, and the post it is in response to."
In September, Moore said he is "not running for president" in 2028 and is "excited" about serving a full term if he wins re-election in November, although many still believe he has presidential ambitions at some point in the future.