https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/07/larry-hogan-maryland-senate-race-independent/
Excellent opinion column by Matt Bai on Larry Hogan’s decision
to run for the Senate as a Republican.
“Hogan had an option here. He could have formally left his
party and run as an independent. This isn’t crazy. In my native state of
Connecticut, the Land of Steady Habits and Mean Drivers, two political giants
pulled this off after they were bounced from their parties for being
insufficiently doctrinaire: Former Republican Lowell Weicker won the
governorship in 1990, and former Democrat Joe Lieberman was returned to the
Senate in 2006. Right now, in Nebraska, an independent candidate for Senate,
Dan Osborn, has effectively drawn even with the Republican incumbent, Deb
Fischer. … For all his defiance, when it really mattered most, Larry Hogan
chose the path of party tribalism over the harder road of going it alone.”
Larry Hogan is certainly not a MAGA Republican. But Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell (who begged Hogan to run), and every MAGA Republican wants him to win. The alternative is to go with Angela Alsobrooks, who’s supported by Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden, among many others. A subtle point: U.S. Senators serve six-year terms. So, even if Maryland doesn’t wind up being the tipping point for which party has the majority in the Senate next year, electing Hogan would improve the odds of Republican control after the 2026 and 2028 elections as well.
