Moore Talks Trump, Remembering Sue Hecht And, Finally, Final Annapolis Results

By William J. Ford and Steve Crane, Maryland Matters

September 26, 2025

Gov. Wes Moore (D) has said repeatedly that his beef with President Donald Trump (R) isn’t personal. But it’s clear from Moore’s comments to reporters Thursday at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference that he and the president aren’t exactly pals, either.

The governor took about 15 minutes to speak with reporters, answering the now-obligatory question about a presidential bid — he again said he’s not running, in case you’ve been asleep for the last few months — but also talking about what he called the Trump administration’s “assault” on democracy and the president’s war on working families.

Moore pointed to the president’s proposal to do away with mail-in ballots as just one facet of his assault on democracy. “Why do you think that’s happening? It’s happening because they think they have a better chance of doing voter intimidation if you actually have to show up at the voting booth,” Moore said.

State of democracy takes center stage at Congressional Black Caucus conference

“Why do they think that they are trying to put National Guards inside of our communities and our streets and our neighborhoods? So people can get comfortable with the idea of having people walking around in military uniforms, and so they can surround voting booths,” he said. “This is a very intentional thing that they are doing.”

Moore was also asked about the possibility of a federal government shutdown, something he said Trump has been trying to do since he began his latest term. Maryland leads the nation with more than 15,000 federal jobs lost since January.

The governor said the state continues to help laid-off federal workers find jobs in the private sector and in the state’s classrooms to help ease a teacher shortage.

“We are going to continue being aggressive. We are going to continue being creative,” he said. “This battle that the president just seems to be content on waging on working families. It continues, and it continues with a speed that is absolutely offensive, particularly for those who actually care about the middle class.”

After Moore spoke with reporters, he went to do a radio interview with the Black Information Network. Before he put on a headset, the governor was warmly greeted by conference attendees.

Moore is scheduled to return to D.C. on Saturday for one of the conference’s main events, the Phoenix Awards. Former Vice President Kamala Harris is also scheduled to attend, which would mark her second straight year at the event.

Remembering Sue Hecht

Tributes were flowing in Thursday for former Del. Sue Hecht, a Democrat who represented the Frederick area for three terms, from 1995 through the aughts, and who was remembered as a role model for elected women who followed in her footsteps. Hecht died Tuesday, Sept. 23, at age 77.

Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-6th) called Hecht “a true trailblazer who led with compassion and conviction. Sue broke barriers for women in politics and mentored so many who followed in her path. Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater called Hecht a “dear friend and an incredible leader in our community.”

Former Del. Sue Hecht, a Democrat from Frederick, died Tuesday at age 77.

“Sue led with compassion, vision, and tenacity and was truly a champion for Frederick County,” Fitzwater said in a social media post. “She was a role model for so many local elected officials, especially women — blazing the trail and breaking glass ceilings.”

C. Sue Hecht was born in Takoma Park in 1947. She attended Frederick Community College and Hood College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in management, and earned an MBA from Frostburg State University, where she briefly taught. From 1986 to 1997, she was executive director of Heartly House, a Frederick County shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, was a member of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault for the same period, and was a co-founder of the Frederick County Domestic ViolenceTask Force, among many other positions.

Hecht was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1994 and reelected in 1998, serving as a member of the Appropriations Committee and, in her second term, as deputy majority whip. She ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2002, losing to incumbent Republican Sen. Alex Mooney, before running for House again in 2006 and regaining her seat. She did not seek reelection in 2010.

As recently as last year, Hecht was working to help elect U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) Nancy Lineman, who served as communications director for former House Speaker Michael Busch, said the first campaign she ever worked on was Hecht’s, which solidified her “love of politics and policy.”

“She was the truest of true public servants. A life well lived and unending giving to her community and constituents,” Lineman said in a social media post. “I was lucky to know her and learn from her.”

Are we sure this time? We’re sure

After counting the Annapolis City primary ballots and then ordering a hand recount, city and Anne Arundel County election officials confirmed Thursday that the “final” election results posted Tuesday were unchanged and the winners and losers stand.

The only race where a recount might have made a difference was in the Ward 4 council race, where Democrats Janice Elaine Allsup-Johnson and Coren Eve Makell were separated by just four votes in their race. The recount confirmed that Allsup-Johnson had edged Makell for the Democratic nomination by a vote of 144 to 140.

The Annapolis Board of Canvassers voted in emergency session Wednesday to conduct the recount, in part because of the razor-thin margin of the Ward 4 race and in part because of an election night error that switched results for candidates in the Ward 6 race. The error, which was discovered and corrected before results were reported Tuesday, gave Diesha Contee’s votes to Craig Cussimanio and vice versa. The audit confirmed the numbers reported Tuesday, with Contee receiving 185 votes to Cussimanio’s 124.

“We apologize to all the candidates and especially Ms. Contee and Mr. Cussimanio for the error,” said Board of Canvassers Chair Eileen Leahy in a statement Thursday. “We found the error through our normal procedures, and remedied the mistake, then we expeditiously conducted the audit to give voters and candidates confidence in the outcome.”

Besides Allsup-Johnson and Contee, the — now official — winners in the other contested races were Harry Huntley in Ward 1, Keanuú Smith-Brown in Ward 3 and Jared Littmann in the mayor’s race. All eight council seats were up, but only four were contested.

The audit began Thursday morning at Anne Arundel County Board of Elections offices in Glen Burnie, where workers “retabulated the results of paper ballots from in-person, mail-in, drop-box, and provisional ballots cast in the primary.” The whole process took about 2.5 hours at a cost of about $1,300, which the county board paid for.

The winners still have to get through the general election on Nov. 4, and the winners of that election will be sworn in on Dec. 1.