Gov Wes Moore stands by account of grandfather’s interaction with KKK amid scrutiny: ‘Hurtful and offensive’

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, widely believed to have presidential ambitions, is standing by his account of his family’s history of fleeing the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina in the face of a report questioning the details about that story. 

“It’s hurtful, and it’s offensive,” Moore told Fox News Digital when asked about the report. 

Earlier this month, the Washington Free Beacon published an article that disputed a story Moore told about his family’s background, in which his grandfather and great-grandfather were forced to flee the state of South Carolina due to threats from the Ku Klux Klan. 

“I know my family’s history, I know that James Joshua Thomas was born in South Carolina, and when he was a toddler, when he’s just a child, was run out by the Ku Klux Klan, that his family picked up and they moved to Jamaica, but that he came back to this country, and he became the first black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church,” Moore said.

Moore has frequently referenced his maternal grandfather, James Thomas, as the figure in the 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 great-grandfather was a minister in Winnsboro, South Carolina, who fled to Jamaica with his son after being threatened by the Klan.

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However, the Free Beacon report cast doubt on the specifics of that story, claiming 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.

“The irony,” Moore said, “is that when he became the first black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church, threats started coming to him because not everybody was happy, and he stuck because this is a man who had a deep Jamaican accent his entire life and was maybe the most patriotic American I’ve ever met.”

“And so to hear now him and his story being attacked by a right-wing blog. It’s just deeply hurtful and deeply offensive. And I said it before, but if they have questions about the Ku Klux Klan’s activities in the 1920s in South Carolina, then don’t ask me, ask the Ku Klux Klan.”

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The Washington Free Beacon has publicly stood by its reporting on Moore’s life story.

Moore has previously faced other questions about misrepresenting his past, including on Sunday when CBS’ Norah O’Donnell pressed the governor on another Washington Free Beacon report alleging discrepancies about his claims about his tenure at Oxford University. 

“Oxford says it does not have a copy of your thesis,” O’Donnell asked. “Did you submit it? Any idea why it’s missing?”

Moore responded, “”I think Oxford has said that I have completed my degree. There is no denying that. And that I received a Master’s degree at Oxford University in international relations after being the first African American Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University. And so, there is no denying that.”

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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.