Democratic Party leaders, who concede Larry Hogan is a Republican force to reckon with in the U.S. Senate race in Maryland, are determined to rebrand him as a MAGA stooge.
It’s a plan designed to take down a Republican threat in deep-blue Maryland who doesn’t fit neatly into the Democrats’ playbook for a starkly divided America. He’s an anti-Trump Republican, but Democrats want to stress that he’s still a Republican — and that’s bad enough.
Democrats deployed a similar strategy to no avail in the 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial races. They spent millions of dollars to paint Mr. Hogan as a dangerous social conservative, but his low-tax, pro-business message carried him to the Governor’s Mansion in Annapolis.
Hogan campaign spokesman Mike Ricci said they expect Democrats to again “put a lot of time and money into those kinds of cookie-cutter attacks.”
“They don’t want to run against the Larry Hogan who Marylanders know and trust. They want a cartoon character version,” Mr. Ricci said. “But he’s not a typical Republican, and they have a tough task ahead of them trying to prove otherwise.”
Mr. Hogan, who served two terms as governor and was only the second Republican governor in 50 years in Maryland, tipped the battle for the Senate majority slightly more toward the GOP with his last-minute decision to enter the race.
Senate Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority and must retain several other battleground seats up for reelection.
Known for his bipartisan and centrist nature, Mr. Hogan is a longtime foe of former President Donald Trump and says he won’t vote for him this year. The former governor said he wants to go to the Senate to “fix our nation’s broken politics and fight for Maryland.”
Democrats insist he is a Trojan Horse for right-wing extremists.
Rep. David Trone, who is vying against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland’s Democratic primary for Senate, labeled Mr. Hogan as “Mitch McConnell in disguise” in a recent WYPR radio interview.
It’s a characterization that hits Mr. Hogan on two fronts: Mr. McConnell, the longtime Senate GOP leader, is loathed by Democrats for being Republican and by the right-wing because he’s viewed as an anti-Trump Washington Republican.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said it’s as simple as Mr. Hogan being on the wrong team.
“I’m confident that the Democratic Senate nominee will win because Marylanders will recognize that a vote for Larry Hogan is a vote to put Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Rick Scott in the majority of the United States Senate.”
Democrats’ anti-GOP arguments haven’t worked against Mr. Hogan in the past, and now those attacks are not supported by his record as governor, said Richard Vatz, a professor of political persuasion at Towson University in Maryland.
“To claim he is in line with the most conservative Republicans in the Senate is just untrue. I don’t think it will take long for Hogan to convince people of that,” Mr.Vatz said. “People in Maryland like to see Hogan‘s demeanor in senatorial candidates. … You don’t find any kind of crazy anger or nastiness.”
He said Mr. Hogan‘s style is closer to that of Mr. Van Hollen or Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland’s other senator.
Mr. Hogan is running to replace Mr. Cardin, the third-term Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been in Congress since 1987. He is retiring at the end of the year.
Mr. Hogan‘s decision to run for the Senate, an institution he once vowed never to join, illustrated his alignment with moderates. He said he was motivated to enter the race by his outrage at most Senate Republicans — backed by Mr. Trump — helping tank a bipartisan border policy deal.
He’s also steered toward the center on hot-button issues such as abortion.
Speaking at an Axios event in Washington last week, Mr. Hogan said he opposes a federal abortion ban but would not stake a position on codifying Roe v. Wade or protecting in vitro fertilization.
He said the IVF issue was brand new after the Alabama Supreme Court on Feb 16 issued a first-of-its-kind ruling that embryos were people and he didn’t want to “speculate on what the legislation might look like.”
Mr. Hogan, who was the first two-term Republican governor in Maryland in 56 years, would make history again if he prevails in the Senate race.
A Republican senator hasn’t been elected in Maryland since 1980. The state gave President Biden his fourth-largest margin of victory in 2020 against former President Donald Trump with a more than 30-point margin. And nonpartisan election forecasters rate the race as likely Democratic.
Still, early polling also shows Mr. Hogan tied or ahead of Mr. Trone and Ms. Alsobrooks.
One difference in this race for Mr. Hogan is that he has never appeared on the same ticket as Mr. Trump, who clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday.
“It’s a tough place for a Republican,” Mr. Hogan said at the Axios event. “But the voters of Maryland know me and have overwhelmingly voted for me twice.”
Mr. Cardin, confident his successor will also be a Democrat, said having Mr. Trump at the top of the GOP ticket “makes it more clear [Hogan] is with them.”
“This is not a gubernatorial year. This is a presidential year,” he said. “This is where the control of the Senate, the presidential politics, the future of our country and the division in the parties play a much stronger role.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.