Republican hopes of luring Gov. Larry Hogan into the Senate contest in Maryland are rising as President Joe Biden’s agenda stalls and GOP prospects for reclaiming power in Congress brighten.
Hogan, eyeing a 2024 presidential bid, is cool toward Republican efforts to recruit him into the race against Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, an uphill battle in blue Maryland no matter the breadth of the GOP’s 2022 success. But after Sen. Joe Manchin killed Biden’s signature social spending bill, for which Hogan lauded the West Virginia Democrat, Republicans freshly optimistic about winning the Senate majority are hopeful the governor may warm to the challenge.
“Every Republican with a voice is asking Gov. Hogan to run,” a GOP operative with relationships in the Senate said. “It’s a full-court press because he could win.”
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