BALTIMORE — An anonymous group that spent the last seven months lambasting Gov. Wes Moore in campaign-style social media posts has started raising money to spread its message even further, though who’s behind the effort remains shrouded in mystery.
The shift from mocking, often AI-generated online content targeting Moore to a professional fundraising operation comes as the Democratic governor formally launches his bid for reelection.
The group has identified itself only as “No Moore” both in its online presence and in its recent registration with the Federal Election Commission.
It has not publicly backed any Republican candidate but some Democrats have questioned whether former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan — who could still jump into the race to challenge Moore — or his supporters are behind it. The group has described Hogan’s record favorably when comparing it to Moore’s. It also promoted news last week that Republican state Senate leader Steve Hershey was exploring a campaign.
“The secrecy is building buzz,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Institute of Politics. “It’s done for a reason.”
Kromer said any political observer who’s followed the group since its launch in February would’ve expected it to eventually become a campaign organization. Television and radio ads are especially costly but still the most effective ways to reach larger pools of voters, she said. Campaigns have also increasingly spent money on digital ads to boost their reach.
“If they want to continue and potentially create a problem for Moore’s reelection efforts, they’re going to have to start raising some money,” Kromer said.
Some who watched as “No Moore” initially let loose a flood of social media attacks said months ago that it probably should have been registered as a formal political organization. At the time, the group described itself as a volunteer-led “grassroots movement” focused on Moore’s handling of the state budget, which faced a $3.3 billion deficit this year.
It has since amassed thousands of followers across social media platforms by continuing to target Moore on the budget issues, but also to spread increasingly colorful memes and AI-generated videos. The videos have depicted the governor as a clown or, recently, hanging out with George Clooney after the news that Moore and his wife vacationed at the actor’s estate on Lake Como. They’ve included an AI version of Moore’s voice, including one in August that showed him using a blue crayon to color a map of Maryland — a reference to an ongoing national debate over gerrymandering — and then mispronouncing Wicomico County.
In an unsigned statement for this story, someone from “No Moore” said the group intended to “remain anonymous to focus on amplifying the voices of Marylanders, not on elevating personalities.”
Matt Foster, a political science professor at American University, said the group appears to be part of a “shady” trend of political organizations using complex campaign finance regulations to influence elections without transparency.
“It is very, very not transparent,” Foster said. “There’s a reason why people don’t like this.”
Foster said the group’s registration with the Federal Election Commission as a “hybrid PAC” means it would be allowed to both operate as a super PAC — in the sense that it could independently spend unlimited amounts to help benefit or hurt a candidate — or donate directly to candidates or other PACs, at least up to the legal limit.
“To me, that shows some intention to get more involved than just what we’ve seen so far,” Foster said.
And though its documentation does not identify its organizers, the No Moore PAC will be required to disclose its donors in a way that offers some transparency.
It’s unclear how much the group aims to raise and whether it will be able to compete in a race where the incumbent has been a successful fundraiser. The Democrat had banked nearly $5 million in his campaign account as of the beginning of this year, with another public update scheduled for January.
“No Moore” has garnered more than 14,000 Facebook followers, though some followers appeared to question what the money would be used for when the group made its fundraising announcement on Saturday.
“How do we know that all the donations will go to keeping Moore out of elected office vs. buying you a yacht or something?” one follower asked.
The group responded to another comment by saying it planned to run “ads, digital campaigns and grassroots outreach needed to expose Moore’s reckless spending, record tax hikes and presidential ambitions.”
Kromer said Republicans running against Moore would welcome the kind of additional firepower that “No Moore” was set to provide. But the campaign by itself won’t be enough to make a serious dent against a popular incumbent in a largely Democratic state, she said.
“If this is a fundraising effort to ensure Moore doesn’t win a second term, they need to find a candidate,” Kromer said. “It can’t just be a criticism of Moore.”
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