Gov. Wes Moore heads to Austin this week for an interview on his first two years in office and the coming presidential election. While in Texas, Moore will also raise money for his re-election campaign. Photo by Brennan Stewart/Capital News Service.
A midweek trip to Texas to talk policy will include a fundraiser for Gov. Wes Moore (D).
Moore traveled to Austin, Texas, Thursday. He will attend the Texas Tribune Festival on Friday and sit for an interview with NPR as part of the program. The governor will talk to Michel Martin about his first two years in office and the final two months of the presidential election cycle. (You can watch that interview here.)
Moore’s staff earlier this week said the trip was an opportunity for Moore to talk policy — David Turner, Moore’s senior adviser and communications director, and Deputy Chief of Staff Johnny Dorsey, are traveling with the governor.
It will also be an opportunity for the first-term governor to raise some cash — tickets for the Thursday evening event ranged from $250 to $6,000 — outside the confines of the Old Line State. Moore had a similar fundraiser while attending the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this year — a $500-$6,000 per head brunch reception.
The Thursday fundraiser in Moore’s honor will be held the home of Michelle and Daniel Lubetzky.
Daniel Lubetzky was profiled by Moore in his 2015 book “The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters.”
He is the founder of PeaceWorks Holdings, a nonprofit organization. He founded Kind Snacks in 2004. The company was sold in 2020 to candy and snack food company Mars for an estimated $5 billion.
Lubetzky also started the OneVoice Movement. The nonprofit seeks to resolve conflicts in the Middle East by bringing together Israelis and Palestinians.
The Washington Post reported that Lubetzky was one of a group of “billionaires and business titans” who discussed making donations to Mayor Eric Adams and using pressure tactics on Columbia University to allow a police end pro-Palestinian protesters at the campus.
Michelle Lubetzky is a physician with roots in Maryland, according to a 2008 wedding announcement in the New York Times, that identified her father as an attorney in Silver Spring and her mother as a retired teacher.
Other co-hosts of the fundraiser are Texas political leaders, entrepreneurs and thought leaders including:
Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a patriarch of Texas Democrats whose career stretches back to President Lyndon Johnson and Texas Gov. John Connally, and his wife Liz, an interior designer and branding consultant.
Esther Benjamin, CEO of World Education Services. Moore profiled her in his book “The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters.” Benjamin also has a Baltimore connection. She was senior vice president of global public affairs and chief benefit officer for Laureate International Universities, a publicly traded education corporation, in Baltimore.
John Guess, CEO of a Houston-based commercial Real Estate firm.
Kim Taylor, a former finance consultant for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). She founded Progressive Capital, a firm that “specializes in creating and implementing fundraising and communication plans” for progressive organizations and “visionary political leaders,” and Taylor Collective Solutions, a public relations consulting firm for nonprofit organizations and campaigns.
Marc Winkelman, CEO of Austin-based GO! Retail Group which includes Toys “R” Us, Calendar Club and Go!Toys and games.
Adam Zeplain, CEO and managing partner of Austin-based mark vc, a venture capital firm that invests in the security, defense, health care and consumer technology industries.
– Maryland Matters reporter Josh Kurtz contributed to this story.