Posted on 01/16/2022 9:36:11 AM PST by RandFan
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Sunday would not say if he plans to file to run for U.S. Senate by next month’s deadline, days after reports surfaced that GOP heavyweights are urging him to mount a bid.
Asked by moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” if he is going to run for U.S. Senate, Hogan refused to answer directly, instead asserting that he is focused on combating COVID-19 and the current omicron wave in the Old Line State.
“Feb. 22 is like a month away and right now we're just focused on the day job as governor and focused on this omicron crisis and our legislative session,” Hogan said, noting the filing deadline. “That's where my focus is gonna to stay.”
Earlier in the interview, the governor reiterated that serving in the Senate is “not something I aspire to.”
“But I also have said that I care very much about the country and where we are and the divisive rhetoric, then the divisiveness and dysfunction in Washington. And so, you know, people are calling on my, kind of more patriotic duty, to say even if it's not the job that you want, maybe we need you to run anyway,” Hogan said.
“And so that's where we are. I've never expressed an interest in it and still haven't taken any steps in that direction,” he added.
Asked if he believes a Republican can win a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland, Hogan cited two polls that had him defeating Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) by 12 points, noting that it is the same margin he was reelected by in 2018.
“So I think it is possible,” he said.
The conversation regarding a potential Senate bid by Hogan comes after The Associated Press first reported last week that top Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), are privately lobbying the Maryland governor to mount a challenge against Van Hollen.
McConnell’s wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have also reportedly been pressing Hogan to run for Senate.
Hogan is barred from running for governor again because of term limits. He has been in office since 2015.
Sources said Hogan has entertained the conversations, but remains dedicated to finishing his term as Maryland governor, which ends in January 2023. One source said “he’s not interested in running.”
The lobbying comes as Republicans are looking to tip the Senate’s 50-50 split to the right and give the GOP a majority in the upper chamber for the second half of President Biden’s term.
Hogan’s name has also been floated as a candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
And McConnell is behind it !
Mitch wants more bitches.
That’s the last thing we need.
You like Communist Van Hollen better?
I don’t “like” either of them
I live behind enemy lines in Maryland.
You are correct. I despise Hogan, yet voted for him for Gov. over the Socialist commies.
Same in the Senate. He would vote on low taxes and regulation and is 10,000 times better than the Dem alternative.
Wasn’t he in Stalag 13?
Hogan’s Zeroes.
A wispy-washy Republican senator from Maryland or a commie-light Democrat senator fro Maryland. Unfortunately, those are the only possibilities here.
As long as Hogan votes Republican so we can get a majority in the Senate, he can be a jack@$$ if he wants. We can’t be choosers, especially when it comes to a state like Maryland. A MAGA candidate will never get any traction.
I don’t even know what wispy-washy means. I meant to say wishy-washy.
A John McCain from Maryland.
They both stink. Larry makes Romney look conservative.
And meanwhile nothing will ever change. Sometimes you have to blow up the team.
I live in MD. Hogan is a RINO and doesn’t like Trump, but if it wouldn’t be for him ,as liberal as MD is, we would have been locked down like PA, NJ, or NY in the last two years. He did a balanced approach. Our far left progressive AA county council head, Pittman kept going against him making things worse in our county than need be. I personally don’t like Hogan, but our state will go far left when he is gone and we get a dem s governor again, so having Hogan as a senator wouldn’t be all bad, adding to our chances of a majority. That being said, we’re planning to get out of MD in the next three years, being the dems will go full blown progressive and move to SC or FL.
Yep. Maryland is the third most liberal State in the nation. It beat out Kalifornia, New York and Hawaii.
Only DC, VT and MA voted further left.
Hogan is a RINO, but he has done some good things as governor and he would be preferable to either of Maryland’s current senators.
Fat Toad Hogan thinks he is destined for higher office, like POTUS. Yes he thinks he can take out Trump and DeSantis in 2024.....
Ahh yes...me to. Retire in 1.5 years. Moving to Florida in 2.5 to 3 years.
Florida doesn’t tax retirement money, 401, etc.
Tarpon fishing, laying on the beach and reading all day.
Something is tickling my memory about Hogan. Some scandal that involved using FR FReepmail that almost dragged FR into a fray but I can’t remember specifics. Maybe an “old-timer” has some facts.
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