Larry Hogan, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Maryland, is in hot water right now over comments he made about the Trump trial verdict last week.
"Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process,” Hogan said in a statement. "At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders—regardless of party—must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law."
The response from the GOP was swift and brutal.
You just ended your campaign https://t.co/LJDuQ4oj0A
— Chris LaCivita (@LaCivitaC) May 30, 2024
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump also attacked Hogan for the statement.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing — I don’t support what he just said there,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “I think it’s ridiculous and I think anybody who’s not speaking up in the face of really something that should never again have seen the light of day at trial, that would never have been brought against any other person aside from Donald Trump, doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone."
Look, we all know the verdict was absurd. But, let’s acknowledge some important context here. Hogan made the statement before the verdict was announced, and on the surface, it’s a perfectly reasonable statement from a moderate Republican running for a statewide election in a blue state he’s won twice before when he was governor.
In response to inquiries about the RNC's stance on supporting Larry Hogan's bid for Maryland's Senate seat, Lara Trump acknowledged the party's desire to win, but added that Hogan “doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point.”
When asked whether the RNC would concede the Senate seat in Maryland to the Democratic candidate by not supporting Mr. Hogan, Mr. Trump’s daughter-in-law said “of course the party” wants to win, but that Mr. Hogan’s comments were “a shame.”
“I think he should have thought long and hard before he said that,” Mrs. Trump said.
After she was asked again if the RNC would ditch the former Maryland governor in his Senate bid, she said would have to get back to the host “on all the specifics monetarily.”
“But what I can tell you is that as the Republican Party co-chair, I think he should never have said something like that,” she said. “I think that’s ridiculous.”
Well, that’s a stupid position to take.
Hogan may not be a fan of Trump, but he also represents the GOP's best (and only) chance to flip the seat from blue to red. Do I care if he’s a centrist Republican who sometimes doesn’t vote the way I’d like? When the alternative is someone who is going to vote however Chuck Schumer wants, I’ll take it.
And, Hogan may actually have a shot at winning.
The polls may be a bit all over the place, and it may be a long shot, but some polls have shown him beating Democrat nominee Angela Alsobrooks. Why attack him and ruin any chance he might have?
This isn’t the same thing as Sen. Mitt Romney, who has been a painfully moderate Republican despite representing a solid red state. The Republican Party will not win a statewide race in Maryland with a hardcore conservative Republican.
If Hogan pulls off a victory, he may not vote with the GOP all the time, but he’ll insulate a Republican majority in the Senate, and that’s the important thing.
