Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that former president Donald Trump was a “constant problem” for the Republican Party.
Discussing the successful Virginia gubernatorial campaign of Glenn Youngkin (R), Anchor Dana Bash said, “One of the things he was able to do is keep his distance in a certain way from the former president, Donald Trump. The midterms coming up are quite different. Trump is already very involved, planning on hitting the campaign trail. Are you worried that that will hurt Republicans?”
Hogan said, “I’m concerned about it. It’s obviously an issue to contend with, and if the former president interferes with the primaries and tries to help nominate folks that are unelectable in a general election in, say, swing districts and purple states, that’s going to hurt. But look, this has been a constant problem. I was reelected. I ran 44 points ahead of President Trump in Maryland in 2018 in between him, you know, losing by 30 points in 2016 and ’20, so it is possible. The Democrats have been trying to make it all about Trump. I think that’s a mistake. I also think the Democrats, you know, Joe Biden ran as a centrist, saying he was going to bring the country together. I think that’s why he won, but he’s the kind of out of control wokeism and far-left progressive caucus that almost screwed up the infrastructure bill, I think is going to hurt him.”
He added, “If the Republican Party wants to be successful at winning elections, I agree with the clip you showed from my friend Governor Christie who said we can’t look back and constantly relitigate what happened in 2020.”
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