‘I’m torn’: Hogan-Trump split is putting some Maryland GOP voters on the spot

BALTIMORE — Larry Hogan and Donald Trump will appear in November for the first time together on Maryland’s ballot, but they won’t necessarily share equal space in the hearts of Republicans in counties like Dorchester, which voted by double digits for Trump in the last two presidential elections.

“This is Trump Country,” said Ted Bryant, 67, who builds and sells small aircraft in the water-oriented Eastern Shore county and is a member of its Republican central committee.

Bryant, 67, is hoping his county is large enough — in the big-tent sense — to not only back Trump for president again, but to also support the U.S. Senate candidacy of Hogan, the Republican former two-term governor who has crusaded against Trump’s hold on the party. It’s a hope shared by many GOP leaders on the Shore and other conservative bastions in Maryland.

Since Democrats enjoy a more than 2-1 voter registration advantage in the state, Hogan must capture a significant number of Democrats and unaffiliated voters to win. But he must do so without sacrificing large chunks of his party’s base in regions like the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland, where the GOP holds sway.

“I’m torn,” Bryant said in an interview Wednesday. “Larry won the primary, so we need to get behind him. But the majority of people, they’re not too crazy about Hogan. Speaking on my own behalf, there are some plusses with Larry, but I’m really down about the no support for Trump.”

Politics may be about issues, but it’s also about loyalties. Voters such as Bryant are reluctant to sacrifice those party loyalties at the expense of personal politics.

After winning the May 14 Republican primary, Hogan began his general election campaign against Democratic Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks by immediately resuming his courtship of Democratic voters. The November winner of the seat held by the retiring Democrat Ben Cardin will help decide which party claims the Senate majority. Hogan quickly unveiled a “Democrats for Hogan” video featuring a montage of compliments that prominent Democrats, including Alsobrooks and Gov. Wes Moore, previously gave him. And he came out in support of codifying abortion access in federal law, a change from his previous position.

But by last weekend, he was talking with state Republicans at their spring convention in Hagerstown, where the theme was “Unity for Victory.” And local GOP officials such as Bryant and Julie Jo Quick, who chairs the Caroline County Republican Central Committee, began the hard work of trying to make sure red county voters stay in the fold.

Quick, 53, said her self-assigned summer mandate is to persuade Republican voters to set aside any animosity they may harbor against Hogan or Trump and vote for both men in November.

“The bottom line is people in Caroline County understand that if we want to help President Trump do what he needs to, he needs a Senate majority,” she said.

Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate. One Senate Democrat in a red state — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin — is retiring, posing a challenge for Democrats.

Quick was to talk to voters over the Memorial Day weekend at an annual strawberry festival in Ridgely. She planned to distribute yard signs for Hogan and Trump and said she hoped there would be some “overlap,” with some homeowners displaying both candidates’ signs in their yards.

Election-related yard signs have already begun popping up on the Eastern Shore. There are colorful “Trump: Make America Great Again” and “Hogan for Maryland” signs. A sign spotted along a Dorchester County road promoted Trump on the top and read “I’m With Andy” on the bottom, a reference to Trump-supporting U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, who represents the Eastern Shore.

But there didn’t appear to be any signs that pitched a Republican ticket of Trump, this year’s presumed Republican presidential nominee, and Hogan.

Hogan captured 64% of the vote in the GOP primary. Robin Ficker, a self-funded Trump supporter and former state delegate who has run unsuccessfully for state and federal offices, got 28%.

Ficker, who lent his campaign $4.4 million, won Dorchester, Garrett and Somerset counties, and was close in Caroline and several others. Those rural counties contain far fewer people than their urban or suburban counterparts in the Baltimore and Washington areas, but their votes could be consequential for Hogan in a close November election.

Replying to Baltimore Sun questions, Hogan’s campaign declined to address its strategy for winning over Trump-leaning Republicans. It said in a statement that it achieved a “landslide” primary victory by emphasizing “bipartisan common sense solutions” and speaking “directly to voters about their concerns just like he did for eight years as governor.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung did not return emails seeking comment.

Hogan’s brand has long been distinct from the Republican Party. He actively opposes Trump and portrays himself as a solutions-oriented anti-politician. He was co-chair until December of the third-party No Labels movement, which tried unsuccessfully to recruit a 2024 presidential candidate.

Hogan has sometimes contrasted Trump’s style with former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s, suggesting Reagan’s more tempered approach was preferable for the nation because he wasn’t focused on scoring partisan points. In the 2020 presidential election, Hogan said he cast a symbolic write-in vote for Reagan, who died in 2004.

Asked about the split, Maryland Republican Party Chair Nicole Beus Harris told The Sun on May 16: “Yes, there are two sides to the party. There are those that are ‘Never Hogan’ and those that are ‘Never Trump,’ but there are a lot more people who are in the middle that will vote for both.” She is married to Rep. Harris.

Bryant, the Dorchester County Republican, said Trump backers’ dislike of Hogan comes not only because he is anti-Trump, but because they believed he was too quick to shut down schools and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Hogan said he acted responsibly to protect public health and safety.

Bryant said he has heard Republicans in Dorchester talking about an anti-Hogan voting strategy of “let’s leave it blank,” meaning they would not vote for anybody in the U.S. Senate race. But it’s not clear whether voters will do that.

Tom Kennedy, chairman of the Baltimore City Republican Central Committee, predicted the election’s national significance will ultimately compel GOP voters to vote for Hogan. Senate control would allow Republicans to set the chamber’s agenda.

“Conservative Republicans will never support Alsobrooks, but they will support Hogan. They have to,” Kennedy said. “I’m not saying they’ll do it with a smile on their face.”

“Many remain unhappy that, as governor, he didn’t promote conservative policies more vigorously. They certainly aren’t happy that he’s been even more critical of Trump than [Utah Sen.] Mitt Romney was. But the stakes in this election are enormous,” Kennedy said. “Trump needs Hogan in the U.S. Senate, and Hogan needs Trump supporters to get him there.”

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