ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday struck a neutral note in his fourth State of the State address, amid an escalated feud with President Donald Trump and brewing tension with Maryland lawmakers on various policy issues, including mid-cycle redistricting and a looming projected $1.4 billion budget shortfall.

Moore delivered his speech to a crowd of lawmakers from both chambers of the General Assembly, members of the governor’s cabinet, and other prominent Maryland leaders such as Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. The governor also invited 10 individuals as his distinguished guests to highlight his administration’s wins, according to Moore’s office, including Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy and several educators and religious leaders from across the state.

“I cannot stand here and tell you I’ve gotten it all right. I am more self-aware than the President of the United States. I do not give myself an A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus. Many of us met on my first day as governor. It’s taken time to build relationships and to learn Annapolis,” Moore said in his remarks. “I am an outsider at heart — and I don’t see that changing.”

Moore has faced sustained criticism over a string of governance breakdowns that have raised questions about oversight, public safety and fiscal management in his first years in office.

The administration forced out Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi after repeated failures to properly detain or monitor violent youth, including a home-detention case in which a teenager went on to commit two killings while under state supervision. Separately, the state’s child-welfare system came under intense scrutiny following the death of a child in foster care, which exposed gaps in monitoring, contractor oversight and emergency response within the Department of Human Services. Those operational failures unfolded as Maryland entered a second consecutive year of projected budget deficits, leaving Moore and lawmakers scrambling to close multibillion-dollar shortfalls through cuts, funding shifts and delayed spending.

In his address, Moore blamed Trump for Maryland’s economic woes and accused him of withholding federal aid to Maryland because a majority of the state voted for Democrats during the 2024 elections — a move he said his administration would counter by continuing to invest in areas of the state with majority Republican voter populations.

Still, the Maryland governor’s comments on the president during his address were limited, a sharp change from the ongoing feud between the two leaders.

Shortly after Moore’s speech, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey released his pre-taped Republican response to the governor’s address. Hershey’s response was simple: The answer to the question of whether Maryland is better off under Moore’s administration is “no.”

“It’s easy to blame Washington, but Marylanders know better,” Hershey said. “Rising costs, energy prices, and structural deficits didn’t appear overnight, and they didn’t start last year. President Trump has been in office for just one year. Marylanders expect their governor to focus on Maryland’s problems and take responsibility for the decisions made right here at home.”

“Governor Moore has said Democrats cannot be the party of slow and no, but must become the party of yes and now. Those are the right words — but four years later, Marylanders are still waiting to see the ‘yes,’ and they’re still waiting for the ‘now.’ Marylanders don’t want headlines. They want results,” Hershey continued.

“Marylanders are paying some of the highest electric rates in the country not because of storms or global markets, but because of political decisions made in Annapolis. Reliable, affordable energy was sacrificed, affordability was ignored, and Maryland families are paying the price every single month.

Moore did not specifically call on Senate President Bill Ferguson to bring redistricting to a floor vote in the Senate, as he has previously, and he said that both leaders have Maryland’s best interests at heart and will work together on the issue despite their staunch disagreement.

“I know I haven’t always made life easy for the House or the Senate. I know there are times when you have not made life easy for each other,” Moore continued. “And you know what? That’s OK! That’s democracy. It’s messy. It’s combative. It’s complicated. That’s not a flaw, it’s a feature. It’s what we’re doing right now.”

The Maryland House of Delegates recently passed a redistricting measure that is now headed to the Senate, where Ferguson has refused to bring the issue to a vote. Democrats’ efforts to reshape Maryland’s 1st and 3rd congressional districts and leave Republicans at a substantial disadvantage in winning elections in these areas are at stake.

Moore’s address comes at a precarious time for both the governor and the state. Maryland is facing a projected $1.4 billion budget deficit that Moore and Democrats have emphasized will not be addressed by hiking taxes, but instead by cutting millions in funding and slowing down the growth of numerous government programs.

In his speech, he re-emphasized that pledge. “We are going to prove that we can do more with less,” he said.

Moore spoke on other hot-button issues his administration is playing offense on, specifically immigration and affordability.

Moore condemned how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has carried out its duties in the state, calling ICE agents “bad actors” who have been “preying on immigrants in our community.”

Both the House and Senate will vote on two immigration-related bills: House Bill 488 and Senate Bill 245, which would immediately terminate all existing 287(g) agreements, allowing local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Eight Maryland counties currently participate in 287(g) agreements: Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, St. Mary’s and Washington. The bills would also bar counties from entering into new agreements.

The chamber is slated to vote on those measures Thursday.

In discussing immigration, Moore told the story of a Maryland pastor who was abducted by ICE agents and detained in a facility in Louisiana and later returned.

“Daniel Omar Fuentes Espinal fled Honduras 24 years ago to escape poverty and violence. He built a life. He built a beautiful family and stepped up to serve as pastor at a church in the Eastern Shore,” Moore said before proceeding to speak, in Spanish, to Espinal.

Moore then announced his administration is launching Citizenship Maryland, an initiative that brings together law firms, the private sector and unions to provide support for immigrants in Maryland eligible to apply for American citizenship.

On affordability, Moore made it clear that he will do all he can to lower costs for Maryland residents particularly by addressing high energy costs, Moore noted his recent visit to the White House where he and other governors called on grid operator PJM Interconnection to cap energy prices for the next two years and ensure that data center shoulders energy costs when they strain Maryland’s power grid.

Moore also announced that his administration will now demand that new data center projects hire local workers, engage local governments and communities, and cover the cost of their own power needs.

“We’re not going to choose between affordability and innovation,” Moore said to raucous applause.

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