Former president Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed former Maryland governor Larry Hogan for the state’s open Senate seat.
Asked by Fox News reporter Aishah Hasnie whether he’d support Hogan’s bid, Trump replied: “I’d like to see him win. I think he has a good chance to win. . . . I know other people made some strong statements, but I can just say from my standpoint, I’m about the party and I’m about the country. And I would like to see him win.”
Trump’s surprising sudden approval of Hogan comes after the Senate GOP nominee defended a New York jury’s recent conviction of the former president in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case.
“Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process,” Hogan wrote on X. “At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders—regardless of party—must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”
Hogan’s refusal to condemn the outcome of the trial, which many Republicans argued was an egregious weaponization of the legal system against the Democrats’ political opponent, prompted backlash from the Trump campaign.
“You just ended your campaign,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita responded to Hogan on X.
Hogan consistently outperforms Trump in the polls in Maryland, where Hogan governed for two consecutive terms. Likely to improve his chances of securing victory in a blue state, Hogan has marketed himself as a moderate on culture-war issues such as curricula restrictions in K–12, which he has criticized Ron DeSantis for in Florida, and abortion.
Two years after he attempted to block the expansion of abortion access in his state, Hogan also has been rebranding himself as a pro-choice candidate in favor of enshrining Roe v. Wade into federal statute.
“As governor, I protected the rights of Maryland women to make their own reproductive health decisions,” Hogan wrote on X in May. “I will do the same in the Senate by restoring Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. No one should come between a woman and her doctor.”
In February, Hogan penned an op-ed in the Washington Post declaring that he would never support a national abortion ban or undo abortion protections in his state.
“Most Marylanders and Americans don’t fit neatly into one box,” he wrote. “I sure don’t. Even many of the most ardent pro-lifers support common-sense exceptions, and even many of the most passionate pro-choice advocates do not support abortion on demand up to the point of birth.”