President Joe Biden rallied Democrats at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville on Thursday ahead of the midterm elections. Biden also threw his support behind Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee for Maryland governor, calling him “the real deal.” 

During the roughly 30-minute speech to a gymnasium packed with supporters, Biden boasted about his administration’s recent successes, including the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and legislation to protect veterans who have been exposed to burn pits, as well as his plan to forgive between $10,000 to $20,000 of the student loans held by millions of Americans.

He encouraged supporters in the packed gymnasium to remain enthusiastic in the face of the “threat[s] to our very democracy” by MAGA Republicans, referring to former president Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” adherents. 

“I respect conservative Republicans,” he said. “I don’t respect these MAGA Republicans.”

The nation, Biden said, is at a point of inflection. “Americans are gonna have to choose, you must choose: will we be a country that moves forward or backward?” he asked the crowd. “Will we be a nation of unity, of hope of optimism, not a nation of anger, violence, hatred and division?”

By electing Democrats in November, Biden said his administration will be able to complete a lot of “unfinished business.” He specifically highlighted enacting universal pre-kindergarten, banning assault weapons, and codifying Roe v. Wade’s abortion protections.

Wes Moore, who won last month’s Democratic primary, has also committed to enshrining the right to an abortion to the Maryland Constitution if he were to be elected.

Moore is not fighting an uphill battle in Maryland; Democrats outnumber Republicans in state, and by a large margin in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County specifically. (Still, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan did win two consecutive terms in office by appealing to moderate voters and independents; he also emerged as a strident critic of Trump’s.) Moore said he is not just looking to win over members of his own party this November. 

“When people ask me how do you think you can do this, how do you think you can actually bring people together? My answer is this: it’s how I’ve always led,” said Moore, a Marine Corps combat veteran. He said a question he never asked of the soldiers he led about their political leanings because “it didn’t matter.”

“This is a time for all Marylanders to rally around a future not based in lies and conspiracy theories, but one that’s based in optimism, concrete proposals and collective progress,” Moore said.

“Patriotism for him means organizing buses to join him on Jan. 6,” Moore added, noting Cox organized buses to take constituents to the U.S. Capitol for the “Stop the Steal” rally that turned into a violent insurrection. “It’s not a wonder why our current governor, a Republican, Larry Hogan, has said he will not support him.”

In Feb., while serving in the Maryland House of Delegates, Cox unsuccessfully attempted to impeach Hogan. The current governor, for his part, has derided Cox as a “QAnon whack job” and recently questioned whether he was mentally stable.

A lineup of prominent Maryland Democrats including Sen. Ben Cardin, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Rep. Jamie Raskin rallied around the Democratic nominee and warned the audience of the profound damage Cox could inflict if he were to hold Maryland’s highest office.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. David Trone of the state’s Sixth District offered support by video.

Cox, who has been endorsed by Trump, held a rival press conference a few blocks from the high school at the Montgomery County Circuit Court yesterday. He later released a statement on the conservative social media app GETTR that criticized both Moore and Biden. 

“I will win this November and vigorously serve the people of Maryland as governor because the failed policies of the Biden Administration which Wes Moore is praising, advancing, and will implement are disastrous for Maryland,” he wrote.