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.
Just to make a point (and I HATED McCain) there were many things John McCain was conservative on, especially Right to Life issues. As another poster said there is no chance of traction for a MAGA candidate in Maryland.
It is all about me. Can’t help out any other GOP candidates who are considering running. What a putz.
Biden Republicans: these are the same people who told us that Free Trade was good for America, that endless war was necessary and Romney, McCain and Bush were conservative. You shouldn’t listen to them and you certainly shouldn’t vote for them. If Hogan is the best the Republican party of Maryland can offer, tell them to shove him.
I’d vote for Gov Pumbaa if he bumped Van Hollen out of the Senate
I have mixed feelings on this. We don’t need another Romney in the Senate, but we’re talking about Maryland here where it’s almost impossible for a Republican to win, but yet we have a liberal Repub. that can do it. I think it would be beneficial overall to have a liberal Republican hold a Maryland Senate seat to help with Senate majority.
I’m not sure that’s true. A Repub almost won NJ Governnorship (probably did without voter fraud). Maybe, like in NJ, the Repubs have simply abandoned these states and with no funding and no interest from the party apparatus, we’ve forfeited any chance in them without a fight?
Everyone says IL is a solid Dem state, but that simply isn’t true. IL was Republican until the liberal Repub. Gov. George Ryan destroyed the Republican party. IL has elected several Repub senators and governors in the last several decades. A republican can win IL under the right conditions, and I have to wonder if the same could be said for many of the liberal NE states.
*explain why Hogan didn’t vote for the Republican nominee*
Come on man! You mean Trump can’t handle that? If he can get us that 54th or 55th senate seat that’s what matters. I’m sending him $10. It’s the number of donators, not the amount so I’ll at least stand up an be counted.
Maryland is about as blue as states come...if we don’t want Shumer in charge, then we should vote for people like him, at least in blue states.
(but no reason to put up with clowns like him in red states)
“Please make the RINOs on this thread who want folks to vote for Hogan explain why Hogan didn’t vote for the Republican nominee.
Same reason none of the other Republicans in the Senate voted for Trump - they all HATE him. Hogan, and a few others, are willing to state it, rather than hide it.
I do respect his honesty, not his decision, nor the #NeverTrump decisions of most Republican Senators. Politically, I have nothing in common with them, and they have nothing in common with middle America. They’re in the Club and I’m not and I’d never want to be. Their hatred of MAGA has given us Brandon and they like this better than Trump. Go figure.
The “reddest” states elect the worst Assistant Democrats.
Just look over the list that voted for Porkulus II.
Dan Sullivan (R-AK) Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) Mike Crapo (R-ID) Roy Blunt (R-MO) Richard Burr (R-NC) Deb Fischer (R-NE) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Rob Portman (R-OH) Thom Tillis (R-NC) Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Jim Risch (R-ID) Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Bill Cassidy (R-LA) Kevin Cramer (R-ND) Roger Wicker (R-MS) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) John Hoeven (R-ND) Susan Collins (R-ME) Mitt Romney (R-UT)
The good news is that certain rinos have the decency to take themselves out. If Portman, Blunt, Toomey, Burr, and Shelby can read the tea leaves more will follow. It’s addition thru subtraction. We just need a better bench.
Agree...and that’s where to fight the battles, with Alaska first on the list!
“Politically, I have nothing in common with them”
If you’re on this site and not trolling (which I’m sure is true), then you have a LOT in common with the RINOs, as they voted 80% with Trump’s agenda and virtually 100% on his judges. As annoying as they are, they are still FAR BETTER for stopping the Democrats than relying on Manchin and Sinema to not buckle.
Yep!!!!!!!!!!!!
To BobL. You are very smart but too many freepers are not.
RINOs are truly wolves in sheep clothing, worse than Democrats because at least we know what they want to do. RINOs campaign as our friends and then stab us in the back. Since the days of Ford & Rockefeller their power sharing and reaching across the aisle brand of politics has weakened America to it’s current sad shape. I have faith Americans will wake up to a sharp jab to the ribs, rather than this slow boil. We have no time for the moderation Republican Door Knockers cheer for. It’s too late in the game. And about that 80% of Trumps’ agenda they voted for? We’d be better off if they sat on their hands and let the Ds reject much it. Whatever they supported was globalist stew better left on the shelf.
They're leaving because we Trumpers are making them unelectable and not because of the Larry Hogans' of the party.
Again, for those of you who (not you) rightfully do not like Hogan. You can have 50% or nothing if he ran and won. Take the 50% rather than the 0.
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