Hogan receives endorsement from Trump in Maryland’s US Senate Race

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Republican Larry Hogan in his bid to represent Maryland in the U.S. Senate bid.

“I’d like to see him win,” Trump told Fox News during a trip Thursday to Washington, D.C. “I think he has a good chance to win. I would like to see him win.

“And we’ve got to take the majority. We have to straighten out our country … 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.”

Hogan, who was a popular governor, is trying to become the first Republican in more than 40 years to win a Senate seat in Maryland, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 ratio statewide.

He is running to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin and is facing Democratic nominee Angela Alsobrooks.

Late last month, Hogan angered Trump’s campaign when he said that the public should “respect the verdict and the legal process” prior to Trump’s conviction by a Manhattan jury on 34 felony counts.

“At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders—regardless of party—must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship,” Hogan posted on X before the verdict was announced. “We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”

In the past two presidential elections, Hogan said he did not vote for Trump, the party nominee. Hogan said he wrote in the name of his father, former U.S. Rep. Larry Hogan Sr., in 2016 and the late President Ronald Reagan in 2020.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.