BALTIMORE — Maryland Democrats have asked the State Board of Elections to sanction what they are calling a “shadowy” and illegal campaign against Gov. Wes Moore ahead of his reelection bid next year.

The campaign, which has identified itself only as “No Moore” since its launch in early February, has targeted the Democratic governor over his handling of the state’s $3 billion-and-growing state budget deficit.

Daily posts that evoke Moore and sometimes refer to his election prospects are likely a violation of state campaign finance law because the group behind those messages has not registered with the state as a campaign entity, the Maryland Democratic Party argued in a complaint filed Feb. 26.

“Whoever is behind No Moore may claim that their activities are ‘issue advocacy’ not regulated under campaign finance law,” the complaint reads. “However, the selection of their slogan ‘No Moore’ — especially when they state their true intent to keep the governor to one term (to oppose re-election) makes that argument hollow.”

The complaint does not identify any individuals, though the party’s chairman previously said the website “raises the question” of whether former Gov. Larry Hogan “and his allies” are running “No Moore.”

The group’s website and social media posts have echoed some of the language in Hogan’s own public comments about the budget deficit. Other top Maryland Republicans have similarly targeted Moore since he proposed a budget that would reform the state’s tax code and cut state spending by $2 billion, though many of those Republicans have said they are not associated with “No Moore.”

Described only as a “grassroots uprising” on its website, “No Moore” is not registered as a political action committee, business or charity.

Its website discloses that it is “paid for by NoMoore.org,” though Democrats argue that “falls far short of what is required” under a state law mandating disclosures on campaign messages. In addition to the belief that “no such organization exists” called NoMoore.org, the disclosure is missing its address and whether its work is authorized by a candidate or ballot issue committee, according to the complaint.

Proper disclosures and registration with the state would trigger the group to file independent expenditure reports, requiring it to describe its organizers, spending and donors. Registration should have occurred under the law within 48 hours of when “No Moore” spent more than $5,000, which the Democratic Party claims it “very likely” exceeded.

The complaint does not call for specific penalties but instead asks for the elections board to investigate and impose civil penalties if violations occurred. If the violations were “knowing and willful,” the party requested the issue be referred to the state prosecutor.

Anonymous targeting of Moore has led to a civil citation from the state prosecutor in the past.

In the 2022 Democratic primary, Moore filed a complaint about a dossier sent to members of the state’s teachers’ union before their endorsement vote. The “document of lies,” as Moore called it, claimed he encouraged a false perception of his upbringing in Baltimore in his 2010 bestseller, “The Other Wes Moore.”

Two years later, State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III said in April 2024 that it had issued a $2,000 fine to John King’s campaign for sending the document and not disclosing its source.

It was not immediately clear how long the latest complaint would take to investigate.

Karen Dukes, the Democratic Party’s executive director, said in a statement, “Marylanders deserve to know who’s behind this shadowy group that’s spreading falsehoods about Gov. Moore and his plans to cut taxes for a majority of Marylanders, grow our economy, and invest in our people.”

“It’s one thing to lie to Marylanders; it’s another to skirt the law and do it behind anonymous social media accounts,” Dukes said.

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