“Term-limited Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) was holding fundraisers for future political activity Wednesday at events where the Republican is expected to talk about his eight years as governor, as well as plans for the future,” the AP reports.
Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194
What Just Happened?
Trial Balloon · Ep. 194: What Just Happened?
Larry Hogan Expands Political Operation
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) “is hosting a series of gatherings with donors and grassroots supporters after Thanksgiving as the Republican ramps up consideration of a 2024 White House bid,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Who Does Maryland’s Governor Really Work For?
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is no fan of President Trump, but the Washington Monthly suggests he has more in common with the president than his reputation suggests.
“Both are real-estate executives who have refused to relinquish their private businesses while in office. Just as Trump maintained his ownership of the Trump Organization when he became president, Hogan maintained ownership of HOGAN, a multipurpose real-estate brokerage firm, when he became governor. Both have left close family members in charge of their businesses—Trump with his children; Hogan with his brother, Timothy—and created arrangements that allow them to be apprised of the company’s dealings. In other words, they have set up situations in which they can use their powerful government positions to increase their private profits.”
Larry Hogan Now Backs Impeachment Inquiry
“Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) publicly expressed support for the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, joining a small but growing number of Republicans breaking from the party’s mostly unwavering support of the president,” Politico reports.
Said Hogan: “I think we do need an inquiry because we have to get to the bottom of it. I’m not ready to say I support impeachment and the removal of the president, but I do think we should have an impeachment inquiry.”
Hogan May Run for President In 2024
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said that “he’s open to considering a presidential campaign in 2024, after his term ends — but ruled out running for the U.S. Senate,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
Said Hogan: “I’m not going to say I won’t run in the future. A lot of people are talking to me about 2024 being a possibility. We won one of the biggest victories in very tough state in a very tough year. People are keeping an eye on what we’re doing here. Are we going to be a bigger tent party or a smaller tent party? That could involve a future run but maybe it won’t.”
Hogan Will Not Challenge Trump
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), “who was considering an insurgent White House bid that would have championed traditional GOP values, will not challenge President Trump for the Republican Party’s 2020 nomination,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Hogan: “I’m not going to be a candidate for president in 2020.”
“Hogan’s choice dashes the political hopes of Trump’s leading GOP critics, who have wooed the popular Maryland governor for months and connected him with key players in early voting states — and comes as other top Republicans are shying away from jumping into the presidential fray.”
Hogan Has a Super PAC
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) “has what appears to be a super PAC, a development sure to stoke speculation that Maryland’s chief executive might challenge President Trump in the Republican Primary in 2020,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Hogan Looks Less Likely to Challenge Trump
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said that he won’t challenge President Trump in the 2020 GOP primary unless he sees a “path to victory,” The Hill reports.
Said Hogan: “I’m not going to launch some sort of suicide mission, I have a real day job that’s important to me, the people of Maryland, unless I thought there was a path to victory.”
Hogan Says He Won’t Challenge Trump In Primary
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said that he’s not launching a primary challenge against President Trump unless the president’s political standing within his own party weakens dramatically, the AP reports.
Said Hogan: “My goal is not to just make the incumbent president lose in the general election. I’m not going to do that. If they’re looking for someone just to be a spoiler or to throw myself on a grenade to help someone else, that’s not me. Somebody else might be motivated that way. But I’ve got a state to run.”
Quote of the Day
“I’m being approached by a lot of different people, and I guess the best way to put it is I haven’t thrown them out of my office.”
— Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), when asked by CBS News if he’ll challenge President Trump in a primary.
Will Larry Hogan Challenge Trump In a Primary?
Bret Stephens: “Hogan is attracting notice partly because he just romped to re-election over the progressive Democrat Ben Jealous — becoming the first G.O.P. governor to win re-election in Maryland since 1954 — and partly because he’s one of only three Republican governors in deep-blue states (Massachusetts’s Charlie Baker and Vermont’s Phil Scott are the other two). His approval rating is 68 percent in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1.”
“But mostly Hogan makes no secret of his disdain for the president, though he goes out of his way to avoid mentioning his name.”
Hogan Has Sky High Approval In Maryland
A new Gonzales Media and Research survey in Maryland shows Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) approval rating at about 71% among likely voters in 2018.
Hogan Approval Hits New High
A new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) with a 71% approval rating in the overwhelmingly Democratic state, driven by his outspoken disavowal of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Hogan Won’t Vote for Trump
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) told the Washington Post that he does not plan to vote for Donald Trump.
Said Hogan: “No, I don’t plan to. I guess when I get behind the curtain I’ll have to figure it out. Maybe write someone in. I’m not sure.”
Hogan Won’t Say If Trump Is Fit to Be President
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) refused to say whether he thinks Donald Trump is fit to serve as president, the Washington Post reports.
Said Hogan: “I just said I’m not going to talk about Donald Trump anymore. I have nothing to do with it.”
Hogan Approval Hits New High in Maryland
A new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is deeply popular nine months after taking office, earning high marks from residents who describe him as a “different kind of Republican” and who have watched him battle cancer.
“Hogan’s 61% approval rating — up from 42% in February — extends across partisan and demographic lines in a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans more than 2 to 1. He is viewed more favorably than either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, and is presiding over a state that is riding a wave of increased optimism. For the first time since 2007, a majority of residents say things in Maryland are headed in the right direction.”
Maryland Housing Chief Suggests Poor Poison Their Kids
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) housing secretary “will stay in the job despite calls for his ouster over remarks suggesting that mothers might deliberately poison their children with lead to obtain free housing,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
Secretary Kenneth Holt told an audience that the current law “could motivate a mother to put a fishing weight in a child’s mouth to elevate the level of lead in his bloodstream and qualify for free housing at the landlord’s expense until the child turned 18.”
Hogan Says He Has an Aggressive Form of Cancer
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced that he has been diagnosed with “a very advanced and very aggressive” form of cancer, the Washington Post reports.
“Hogan had been feeling ill since returning from a trade mission in Asia nearly two weeks ago, forcing him to cancel numerous meetings and public appearances last week.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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