Gov. Hogan Decides Whether To Challenge President Trump In 2020

ANNAPOLIS, MD — After months of listening to Republican leaders, donors and voters across the country, and visiting the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has made a decision on whether to mount a primary challenge against President Donald Trump in 2020. The popular and moderate GOP governor told The Washington Post that he will not seek the party's nomination next year, instead focusing on Maryland issues and leading the nation's governors.

“I have a commitment to the 6 million people of Maryland and a lot of work to do, things we haven’t completed,” Hogan, 63, said in an exclusive interview with the Post.

Never a supporter of President Trump's candidacy or policies, Hogan went so far as to write in his late father, former Maryland Congressman Lawrence J. Hogan Sr., on the presidential ballot rather than voting for the controversial Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. After a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, left one woman dead and at least 19 people injured nearly two years ago, Hogan condemned the gathering even as Trump said there were good people on both sides of the clashes.

After President Trump's popularity took a hit from the chaotic partial government shutdown this winter, GOP sources said that Hogan — the second-most popular governor in the United States — was newly open to the suggestion that he mount a primary bid for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2020.

But Hogan's wife, Yumi, told him "there is plenty of time to think about the future, but right now my attention should be on my day job,” the newspaper said.

Hogan father was the first Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to call for President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment in 1974 — and Hogan said his father likely would have encouraged him to challenge President Trump.

“I think he probably would be, if he were here, on the side of lobbying me to run,” Hogan told the Post. “He wasn’t here to work me over, but I was thinking about him.”

In July Hogan becomes the chair of the National Governors Association, a bipartisan group of the nation’s governors, which seeks solutions and promotes legislation to help the stats. And, Hogan will launch the advocacy group An America United next week to rally both parties around such issues as infrastructure. A news release from the group says it supports bipartisan, common-sense solutions to create more and better jobs, promotes fiscal responsibility, environmental protection, improving education, and rebuilding America's decaying and neglected infrastructure.

“I truly appreciate all of the encouragement I received from people around the nation urging me to consider making a run for President in 2020. However, I will not be a candidate," Hogan said in a statement. ...“I also want to play a major national role in the years ahead, both within my own party and in the path our country takes. That is why I launched An America United, because I am fed up with the broken and divisive ‘politics as usual’ and know we can do better. We can reject the extremes of both political parties, work to break partisan gridlock, and bring people together to advance bold solutions for all Americans.”

While Hogan consistently has the support of two-thirds of Maryland voters — Democrats, independents and GOP members — his ongoing consideration of whether to mount a primary challenge against President Donald Trump in 2020 had his home state voters split.

Deni Stanley of Arnold told Patch last month: "I will register as a Republican for the primaries and vote for him. I am a Maryland resident and voted for him as governor, he's a good man. That being said, I will vote for whoever the Democrat nominee is in the 2020 election, but wouldn't be upset if Hogan won the presidency."

Hogan told a New Hampshire political breakfast in late April that he is "listening" to people encouraging him to mount a presidential bid against President Donald Trump. But Hogan said he would not launch a "suicide mission" unless he thought there was a path to victory.

"I have a real day job that's important to me and (to) the people of Maryland," he said.

Goucher Poll findings released Feb. 19 showed that 69 percent of Marylanders approve of the job Larry Hogan is doing as governor, 14 percent disapproved, and 14 percent said they don't know.

But a May 9 poll by Gonzales Research & Media Services said Hogan would be trounced by the president in his home state, the Baltimore Sun reports. Poll results showed Hogan would win 24 percent of the vote in the Maryland GOP primary, while Trump would land 68 percent of Maryland's Republican voters.

Richard Harrington of Annapolis commented that Hogan would be an excellent president, but he should wait to run in 2024. "I had business interactions with the governor when he was in business and I can say firsthand he is one of the most ethical and honest individuals I have had pleasure to know."

And while Meg Trager of Annapolis praised Hogan's work as governor, she asked, "Why would he even consider running for president? Republicans need to stick together, not try to compete with one another."

Other Patch readers said Maryland needs Hogan more than the country does right now.