Former Maryland governor Larry Hogan (R) announced Friday afternoon that he will run for his state’s open Senate seat in 2024. Senator Ben Cardin (D), who currently holds the seat in question, announced last year that he would not seek reelection.
“My fellow Marylanders, you know me. For eight years, we proved that the toxic politics that divide our nation need not divide our state,” the moderate former Republican governor said in a video announcement announcing his decision. “And this isn’t just your typical fight between Democrats and Republicans. It’s more important than that. This is a fight for Maryland and America’s future.”
Hogan, who is expected to file the required paperwork Friday, had briefly considered a 2024 presidential run and has long been considered a prospective candidate for a potential No Labels 2024 unity ticket alongside Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) — who is not running for re-election this year — and former Utah governor John Huntsman Jr. (R.).
Hogan’s announcement comes as welcome news to Senate Republicans, who have long urged him to run for the upper chamber and tried unsuccessfully to recruit him to run against Maryland’s Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen in 2022. A strong recruit for Senate Republicans means Democrats will have to spend heavily to protect the seat in 2024, an already unfavorable cycle where a number of red-leaning and purple Democrat-held battleground states will be on the ballot including West Virginia, Montana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
His 2024 Senate run is a long time coming. The Hogan-aligned nonprofit issue advocacy group, An America United Inc, spent $1.8 million and raised a little more than $975,000 in 2022, according to 990 tax forms reviewed by National Review, which suggests the former governor’s allies have spent the past few years boosting his political footprint in preparation for another high-profile run as he neared the end of his gubernatorial term in January 2023.
Hogan, who won his first gubernatorial election in 2014 with 51 percent of the vote and his reelection in 2018 with 55.4 percent, seems to face an uphill battle. President Joe Biden won the state of Maryland in 2020 at a 33.2-percentage point margin. Should Hogan secure the GOP nomination, he is expected to face one of two leading Democratic candidates in the general: Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks or Representative David Trone.
Hogan’s entrance into the race makes this race much more competitive, former Democratic Representative Donna Edwards of Maryland said in an interview.
“Larry Hogan was a very popular governor, he won reelection pretty overwhelmingly, and I think it means that it is going to be a highly competitive race in this environment,” says Edwards, adding that Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in the state. “The right Democrat getting the nomination could could mean that Democrats, while they may not coast to victory in the state, that that certainly can win it.”