Dawn Moore

She is the first African-American first lady of the state.

Dawn Moore
Moore in 2023
First Lady of Maryland
Current
Assumed role January 18, 2023
Governor	Wes Moore
Preceded by	Yumi Hogan
Personal details
Born	Dawn Chanté Flythe (1975-08-08) August 8, 1975 (age 48) Queens, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Wes Moore ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	2
Residence	Government House
Alma mater	University of Maryland, College Park

Flythe was born in Bayside, Queens, to father Earl Flythe, a crane operator for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14, and mother Pandora Flythe, a music teacher at Public School 100 in South Ozone Park. She graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School. She later attended University of Maryland, College Park, where she earned a degree in government and politics and a certificate in women's studies in 1997.

Flythe began her career in government and politics, accepting the position of Special Assistant to the Secretary in the Community and Intergovernmental Relations Division under Maryland Secretary of State John T. Willis, quickly being promoted as Director of that division. She later worked as a senior policy advisor to Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, eventually becoming her field director during the 2002 Maryland gubernatorial election.

In 2004, Flythe ran for Delegate to the Democratic National Convention, representing U.S. senator John Edwards. She won the Democratic primary, receiving 8.9 percent of the vote. However, Flythe did not check in with the rest of the Maryland delegation nor show up to the convention, leading to Democratic Party officials calling up Louise Gallun to serve as an alternate delegate.

During the 2006 Maryland gubernatorial election, Flythe organized a fundraising committee for the then Mayor of Baltimore Martin O'Malley's gubernatorial candidacy. In December 2006, then-lieutenant governor-elect Anthony Brown named Flythe as his director of intergovernmental affairs. She later served as his chief of staff until June 2007.

In February 2022, the Baltimore Center Stage appointed Moore to its Board of Trustees.

 

Moore and her husband, Wes Moore, moved to the Riverside community in Baltimore in 2006. The couple eloped in Las Vegas while Wes was on a brief leave from Afghanistan and were married by an Elvis impersonator. Their official wedding ceremony was held on July 6, 2007. They have two children, born 2011 and 2013. In February 2023, Moore adopted a dog named Tucker, a shih-poo, from a local animal shelter.

The Moores moved out of their Riverside home by late 2008, purchasing a home for $1.2 million in the Guilford community in north Baltimore, which sold for $2.5 million in July 2023, and keeping their Riverside home as a rental before selling it in February 2021. They reside in Government House, the official residence of the Maryland governor and First Family in Annapolis, Maryland.

Moore was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in her late twenties. She controlled the disease with medication, which she stopped taking once she started having children, and now manages her condition with a strong physical fitness routine, which includes yoga and meditation. In March 2023, Moore said that her MS was in remission.