[ [link removed] ]Wes Moore for Maryland[ [link removed] ]Wes Moore for Maryland





John xxxxxx,

When I deployed to Afghanistan as part of 82nd Airborne Division, I
learned how to lead in times of crisis.

[3]Wes in service

In the Army, you learn what it means to serve — and serve with
distinction.

You figure out how to adapt to new challenges.

You disregard anything that could be a distraction from the mission at
hand.

Never during my service did I ask one of my fellow soldiers who they voted
for or what their political ideology was. We’re there to serve our
country, not ourselves or our party.

[4]Wes in service

And when our soldiers return home, they want to keep serving their country
and community.

Many choose the path of federal employment. About 1 in 4 federal workers
is a veteran, and over the last few months, I’ve gotten to know many of
them well.

They inspect our food, discover cures for disease, keep planes from
crashing, and protect communities from violent crime.

But under President Trump, many of these veterans are now being shoved
into the unemployment line.

It’s hard to overstate the havoc wreaked by the Trump-Vance
Administration’s workforce reductions.

In February, a report out of the House Appropriations Committee indicated
that mass firings under Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE Initiative eliminated
nearly 6,000 veterans from their positions in the federal government.

In July, the V.A. reported that the agency was on pace to reduce staff by
30,000 this fall.

If we want to be a nation that makes “Thank you for your service” mean
something again, we need to stop these widespread firings of federal
employees and restore federal public servants’ faith in their government.

These are my people.

I am the governor of a state that’s home to over 260,000 federal workers
and over 300,000 veterans. It’s not my job to look at their political
beliefs and decide whether they’re worth helping. It’s my job to help
them, period. And it sickens me that the Trump Administration is looking
at them and saying, “You’re on your own.”

In Maryland, we’re proving there is a better way:

* Our Government Modernization Initiative has responsibly cut waste.
We’ve delivered commonsense savings that preserve essential services
by reducing the size of our car fleet and purchasing laptops and other
devices more strategically – moves that are intentional and
disciplined, but not very flashy for tweets and TikToks.
* I signed into law legislation that made Maryland the first state in
the nation to establish a pathway for free health care and dental care
to members of the National Guard.
* I expanded paid leave for those in uniform who also have positions in
the state government.
* I gave young veterans the largest tax break in recent Maryland
history.

And we’re just getting started.

I joined the United States Army Reserves when I was seventeen years old.

I was so young that my mother had to sign the paperwork. My military
experience laid the foundation for everything that came after for me, from
starting and running my own small business, to a successful tenure as the
CEO of one of the largest poverty-fighting organizations in the country,
to being elected the 63rd Governor of Maryland and the first Black
governor in our state’s history. It all started with lessons learned in
the Army.

We need to nurture those lessons in others with policies that honor our
veterans’ hunger to serve.

This Veterans Day, President Trump and his advisors would be wise to
follow what we’ve done in Maryland to protect the job market, encourage
service, and uplift our veteran community.

Elevate,

Wes

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