Maryland Gov. larry-hogan” target=”_blank”>Larry Hogan< Republicans and plans to support her reelection effort – which former President donald-trump” target=”_blank”>Donald Trump< released Friday.
“I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Liz Cheney. I think she showed a lot of courage when there were not too many examples of profiles of courage,” Hogan said of the state of play in the House of Representatives. “I don’t want the Republicans whitewashing what happened I don’t want the Democrats just trying to make political hay. I want to really have a real investigation.”
“We need a committee investigation,” Hogan also told CBS about efforts to look into the root causes of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. “I am frustrated because on the one hand we do need to get to the bottom of it. We do need to have a fair and objective and bipartisan hearing. And now it’s like typical Washington. It’s devolved into both parties retreating into their corners.”
In this April 20, 2020 file photo, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaks at a news conference in Annapolis, Md., with his wife, Yumi Hogan, right, On Friday, Hogan vetoed three proposals packaged with police reform legislation. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)
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The moderate Republican governor of deep-blue Maryland – who has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump – was asked by CBS host Major Garrett about the key primary battles facing Republicans in 2022.
Among the most important, Hogan said, are efforts to oust Republican governors like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp who did not go along with the former president’s false claims that the presidential election was stolen – Hogan was supportive of the incumbents. But he also addressed Trump-backed efforts to oust Cheney, who was booted from her role as the House Republican Conference Chair over her insufficient support of Trump.
“Liz Cheney is important. I’ll try to help her any way I possibly can,” Hogan told CBS.
Hogan is often mentioned as a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate and is certainly behaving as one. He released a memoir last year in which he said members of Trump’s cabinet asked him to primary their boss. The term-limited Maryland governor decided against doing so. But’s he’s done nothing to tamp down on the 2024 rumors despite most polls showing Republicans have little appetite for his moderate conservatism.
“We’ll see what happens in the midterms and see what opportunities present themselves,” Hogan said when Garrett asked him about potentially running for the GOP nomination. “But it’s far too early.”
Hogan also commented on the broader state of the Republican Party, warning that it is on a path to make itself irrelevant in national elections.
“I’m concerned that my party is no longer a big-tent, Reagan-esque party where we’re shrinking and shrinking the base, we’re just talking to the hardcore base,” Hogan told CBS.
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Trump-allied Republicans, meanwhile, have argued that longtime establishment Republicans like Hogan are part of a political movement that does not sufficiently support working people and doesn’t push back hard enough against Democrats. That is likely to be the battle in the GOP in 2022 and likely in 2024 as well when either Trump or one of his disciples – and Hogan or another Republican in his lane – run for the nomination.
Asked if Ronald Reagan would recognize the GOP in its current state, Hogan told CBS, “I don’t think he would.”
“I was just asked that at an event last week, would Reagan be able to get elected or nominated in this environment and would he be called a RINO,” Hogan said. “I think he was the best, one of the greatest presidents we had, had the biggest landslide victories for the Republican Party, I think changed the country and the world. But it’s hard to tell with what we’ve seen in the Republican Party today.”
