Republican “Never Trump” Senate Candidate Exposed in New Video
Republican Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, who has publicly rejected an endorsement from Donald Trump, actually bragged about receiving one in a private fundraiser.
CNN obtained video from a private donor call in which Hogan, a former two-term governor of Maryland, responded to a question from one donor about how, publicly, it appears that the Senate candidate and Trump “hate each other.” Hogan interrupted the donor and seemed to happily tout the former president’s endorsement.
“Donald Trump actually endorsed me,” Hogan said. “Donald Trump actually endorsed me.”
MD GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan privately touting Trump’s endorsement during a donor call despite publicly disavowing it.
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) October 31, 2024
“Trump did come out and endorse me, so for those hard-core folks, you just tell them that.” pic.twitter.com/ptv0LEY3fl
The statement goes against Hogan’s public criticisms of Trump going back to his time as governor of Maryland. Last month, Hogan said that he wouldn’t vote for Trump for president, even after Trump endorsed the former governor’s Senate candidacy in July. This is likely due to Hogan’s popularity in the solidly Democratic state, which gives Republicans a chance to pick up a Senate seat that would have been out of reach with a less moderate Republican.
As governor of Maryland, Hogan repeatedly criticized Trump and didn’t vote for him in the last two presidential elections, instead writing in his late father, former Representative Lawrence Hogan, in 2016 and deceased former President Ronald Reagan in 2020. But this hasn’t helped Hogan enough, as the latest polls in Maryland’s Senate race show the former governor trailing Democrat Angela Alsobrooks by 10 points.
Maryland’s Senate race is a must-win for the Democrats and the chance at a steal for the Republicans, and has become the fourth-most-expensive Senate race in the country, with a total of $105 million spent. Hogan might like to pretend that he has a shot at the Senate because Maryland voters like him personally, but it’s actually because Trump and his supporters are backing the former governor.