Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, has built much of his public identity around a dramatic family story he regularly recounts on the campaign trail. The governor has long claimed his grandfather fled South Carolina as a child in the 1920s after the Ku Klux Klan targeted his father, a prominent Black minister, forcing the family to escape a lynching and seek refuge in Jamaica. Moore has described the episode as a defining example of American injustice and a central pillar of his own political rise.
But extensive historical records sharply contradict that narrative and suggest the story Moore has repeated for years is almost certainly false.
Moore’s great-grandfather on his mother’s side, the Rev. Josiah Johnson Thomas, did preach in South Carolina in the early 1920s. However, archival records from the Episcopal Church, along with contemporary newspaper coverage, show no evidence of a secret escape, no indication of threats from the Ku Klux Klan, and no record of Thomas being a high-profile preacher condemning racism from the pulpit.
Church documents show that on Dec. 13, 1924, Thomas made an orderly, public transfer from South Carolina to Jamaica, where he was appointed to replace a well-known Jamaican pastor who had died a week earlier. The move followed standard Episcopal Church procedures, requiring approval from multiple parties, and was documented in official church directories. There is no suggestion the relocation was hurried, clandestine, or driven by fear.
The historical record also shows no Klan chapter operating in Pineville, South Carolina, where Thomas preached, despite the Klan’s broader presence in the state during that era. Detailed church and diocesan reports from the period make no mention of threats, intimidation, or violence directed at Thomas. To the contrary, then–South Carolina Bishop William Guerry, who personally oversaw Thomas’s ordination, described the Pineville church as respected by the surrounding white community and reported that its work was thriving even after Thomas left.
Newspaper coverage from Jamaica further undermines Moore’s account. When Thomas returned to the island, he spoke openly about his time in the United States, making no reference to the Klan or any dramatic flight. Jamaican press reports described him as one of many Jamaicans who had worked in the U.S. before returning home to serve their communities.
Despite this paper trail, Moore has repeatedly embellished the story over the years, telling audiences that his family was “chased away by the Ku Klux Klan” and forced to flee “in the middle of the night.” Media outlets have echoed and expanded those claims, describing his great-grandfather as having been “targeted for lynching,” even though no supporting evidence has surfaced.
The questionable family tale is not the only part of Moore’s biography that has drawn scrutiny. He has previously made false or unsupported claims about where he grew up, awards he received, academic credentials, and honors that either do not exist or cannot be verified. Yet these inconsistencies have drawn relatively little sustained attention from much of the press.
When asked about the discrepancies in Moore’s family story, his spokesperson dismissed the criticism and accused reporters of downplaying racial terror in the Jim Crow South. But the issue raised by the historical record is not whether racism existed in the 1920s, but whether Moore’s specific claims about his own family are true.
For a politician who frequently lectures the public about honesty, history, and patriotism, the collapse of this carefully constructed narrative raises serious questions. Moore’s story may be emotionally powerful, but the documented facts tell a far more ordinary — and far less cinematic — account of a minister who followed a formal church transfer back to his native Jamaica.
[READ MORE: Democrat Hopeful Bobby Pulido Dogged by Past Explicit Posts and Crude Online Behavior]
