Maryland, like most small northeastern states, tends to lean toward the blue side of the aisle and has for decades. But now, it’s looking more and more likely that at least one Senate seat could soon be flipped to red.
As I mentioned, Maryland has been Democratic-leaning for as long as most of us can remember. In fact, as far as Senate seats go, it’s been nearly four decades since a GOP member sat in Congress to represent the Old Line state.
The last two Maryland GOP senators were J. Glenn Beal and Charles Mathias, who left office in 1977 and 1987, respectively.
Since then, not a single GOP member has made it.
However, this year may be different.
If you haven’t heard, sitting Democrat Senator Ben Cardin has decided not to seek reelection after serving in DC for almost a dozen years. Naturally, this leaves a seat open for the taking.
Now, as I’ve already made quite clear; usually, a GOP member wouldn’t even have a real shot at this opportunity.
But Larry Hogan isn’t like most GOP members.
You may know his name from his eight years spent as Maryland’s governor. There were also rumors that Hogan may throw in his hat for the 2024 presidency, running on a No Label ticket.
However, on Friday, he put those rumors to rest with an announcement that he’d instead be running for Maryland’s senate seat.
And it has blown both sides away.
As Hogan pointed out in his announcement video, he’s one of few who has a moderate record, being willing to “stand up to both parties.”
It’s for that reason alone that he just might win things.
As he said, our nation is broken and divided, in much need of repair. And while he doesn’t promise that he can fix it, he knows what can: unification. So that’s what he plans to work towards.
“One party alone can’t fix it. We desperately need leaders willing to stand up to both parties, leaders that appreciate that no one of us has all the answers or all the power.”
https://twitter.com/GovLarryHogan/status/1755998920981799338?
As I mentioned, this is shocking to quite a few on the Republican side because they thought he might choose to run for president, especially after he recused himself from the centrist No Labels group board. Additionally, as early as 2022, he insisted that he didn’t want a senate seat, according to Fox News.
For the left leaning side of the aisle, most likely counted their decades of success in the state as reason enough for a man of Hogan’s leanings to not run.
But running, he most certainly is.
And it’s already giving the lead Democrat for the seat some problems.
Now, to be clear, liberal Angela Alsobrooks has had problems nearly from the get-go of her campaign. She’s even been entangled in a rather controversial staff shake-up. And all that was before Hogan threw his hat in the ring.
Now that he has, Alsobrooks should definitely be worried.
Even if she wasn’t having problems, Hogan as a record of winning elections and by rather large margins, such as both of his gubernatorial bids.
Plus, while you and I might not like it, the fact is he’s not really a conservative and definitely not MAGA material, neither of which would do well in the mostly blue state of Maryland.
His stance on things like abortion, the Second Amendment, and COVID precautions have been all over the place. Yet, as his announcement video says, it’s not like he’s prone to choosing one side over the other.
And that has to count for something. Someone who will vote GOP even half of the time is still better than a true-blue liberal who never will. And that means Hogan may be exactly what the GOP needs in Maryland: a foot in the door and a step in the right direction.
Where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.
