Former Governor Larry Hogan Runs for Maryland Senate Seat

Steven T. Dennis and Erik Wasson
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Former Republican Governor Larry Hogan announced he will run for Maryland’s open US Senate seat, giving the GOP a strong candidate in a state the party hasn’t carried in a Senate election for decades.

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Hogan’s bid adds to Senate Democrats’ challenges in maintaining their majority in the November election. With a bare 51-vote Democratic-aligned majority, seats currently held by Democrats already are under threat this year in Republican-leaning Ohio, Montana and West Virginia and a number of other Democratic incumbents also are under pressure.

“I am running for the United States Senate – not to serve one party – but to stand up to both parties,” Hogan said in a video announcing his candidacy posted on his website and social media.

At the Capitol, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called Hogan “a proven winner” who he had recruited to run in a series of conversations over the last week and crucial recruit for the party.

“This is the best one in the sense that we are now competitive in a state nobody thought we could win,” he said in an interview. “We are going to do everything we can to help him.”

The two-term governor had immense crossover appeal in his prior campaigns, but running for the Senate to replace retiring Democratic Senator Ben Cardin will be a tougher fight for Hogan, who had considered but rejected a run for the president. The state’s voters have been far more willing to back Republicans as a check on Democrats in the State House rather than for Congress.

Democrats face a party primary between Representative David Trone, the wealthy founder of Total Wine & More, and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

Democrats expressed confidence they would win the seat, aided by an issue that has been helping them nationally: abortion rights.

“Democrats have won every statewide federal election in Maryland for 44 years and 2024 will be no different,” said David Bergstein, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in a post on X. The Democratic campaign arm called Hogan a vote to make McConnell the majority leader and enable passage of a national abortion ban.

--With assistance from Zach C. Cohen.

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