Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who left office as one of the few prominent Republican critics of former President Donald Trump, will run for U.S. Senate in his home state.
Hogan announced his plans in a video posted on social media hours before the race’s application deadline.
Recalling his father’s decision as a Republican congressman to support the impeachment of then-Republican President Nixon, Hogan lamented the lack of “leadership” and “willingness to put country before party.” And he leaned on his time as governor to give voters a voice in a blue state where he had electoral success.
“My fellow Marylanders, you know me. For eight years, we have proven that the toxic politics that are dividing our nation need not divide our state,” Hogan said.
“One party cannot fix this,” he continued. “We desperately need leaders who are willing to stand up to both sides, leaders who appreciate that none of us has all the answers or all the power.”
Hogan immediately becomes the front-runner for his party’s nomination, possibly the only Republican in the state to compete to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardy.
Democratic governor Wes Moore won re-election in 2022 with more than 64% of the vote, but did so against a candidate from the right wing of the party. Hogan won two terms in the blue state, including by 12 points in 2018, two years after Democrat Hillary Clinton carried the state by almost 27 points for president.
But it will still be an uphill climb for Republicans, and there’s no shortage of prominent Democrats running for the seat.
Rep. David Trone, D-Md., has spent more than $19 million on ads so far in the race for the upper house. He also voices the approval of dozens of his colleagues in the House House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Trone is running against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, whose campaign has struggled in the early months of the primary, although she has the support of Gov. Moore, state Senate President Bill Ferguson, House Speaker Adrienne Jones and others. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, and others.
Shortly after the news broke, Van Hollen told reporters that Democrats should not take Hogan’s bid lightly, but that he was “confident that the Democratic nominee will win.”
But even if Hogan faces a tough chance of flipping the Senate seat, his profile and political power could at least force Democrats to pay attention to a race they’ve been ignoring, especially as they face a tough Senate map. defense.
Hogan’s electoral success in Maryland is unique for a Republican. In 2018, it happened First GOP governor in 64 years win a second term. He has done so by presenting himself as a more centrist Republican against Trump’s rightward pull of the party.
In 2016, Hogan wrote to his father — a former Maryland congressman who was among the first Republicans to call for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon during the Watergate era — as he voted for president. Hogan in 2020 He said he voted for Ronald Reagan.
up to recently, Hogan played a leadership role in No Labels, a group interested in running a bipartisan, third-party presidential ticket in 2024, prompting speculation about his own political plans. He later endorsed former UN ambassador Nikki Haley against Trump for this year’s GOP presidential nomination.
In an interview with NBC News last month, Hogan said he worries about the future of the party if Trump wins the nomination and another term in the White House. He said he’s thinking about his role in the party and acknowledged that independent-minded, anti-Trump Republicans like him could find themselves politically homeless if Haley rejects the former president’s nomination.
“That’s the million dollar question that I’m not sure I know the answer to,” Hogan said. “A lot of people are trying to figure it out. There is a long way to go and a long way to November to figure out who the candidate will be.”
Seven other Republicans They submitted an application to be a candidate for the Senate in Maryland.