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Heading into Maryland's legislative session, Moore calls for unity

Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore talks to state lawmakers in the Maryland House of Delegates while introducing Attorney General Anthony Brown, after the new attorney general was sworn-in on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023 in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
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Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore talks to state lawmakers in the Maryland House of Delegates while introducing Attorney General Anthony Brown, after the new attorney general was sworn-in on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023 in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)

Democratic elected leaders gathered in Annapolis Tuesday, on the eve of the legislature’s annual 90-day session, to celebrate a robust victory for the state Democratic party in the recent election.

Several of the officials who spoke at the Democratic Party’s annual legislative summit touted what they said was an historic victory.

Incoming Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller pointed out that the Moore-Miller ticket received 1,293,944 votes, which she said is “the largest amount of votes of any gubernatorial ticket in Maryland's history.”

“We elected across the board for the first time ever in Maryland's history, a person of color or a woman in every single constitutional office,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson. “We expanded our majority in the Maryland State Senate by two seats, the first time we've done it in 12 years.”

But now Democrats’ goal needs to be unity, said incoming Gov. Wes Moore —”to make sure for those who we did not yet earn their support, we will go out and we will earn it next time, and for those whose support we did get, we will make sure and work to make sure we're keeping it,” he said. “The goal is not just to make sure that we can energize the base; the goal is to make sure that we are enlargening it.”

Moore said that means pushing policies that move the state forward, from environmental protections to making Maryland more competitive.

Exactly what those policies look like may become clearer over the next 90 days.

Rachel Baye is a senior reporter and editor in WYPR's newsroom.
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