A Republican candidate in a party dominated by former President Donald Trump is spotlighting how he "never caved" to Trump and is showcasing how he sent National Guard troops to help protect congressional lawmakers during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
However, as he aims to flip a long-held Democrat seat in the overwhelmingly blue state of Maryland in a key contest that may decide if the GOP wins back the chamber's majority, former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is highlighting his anti-Trump credentials.
A new ad that showcases Hogan's bipartisan chops during his eight years as Maryland governor also emphasizes that he was "an early critic of Donald Trump, one of the few Republicans who never caved."
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The spot, which the Hogan campaign says will run statewide as part of an existing $8 million ad buy through the November election, then shows news clips of the U.S. Capitol under attack on Jan. 6 by Trump supporters trying to upend congressional certification of President Biden's 2020 election victory.
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"On Jan. 6 as we watched in horror, Hogan didn't just talk about defending democracy, he did something, sending in the Maryland National Guard to protect the Capitol," the narrator says in the ad.
A recent poll commissioned by AARP indicated Hogan deadlocked at 46% support among likely voters with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic nominee in the race.
The poll was the first since the May primary in Maryland to indicate a tied race, with previous surveys suggesting Alsobrooks with the lead. The winner of the November election will succeed Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who is retiring this year after serving nearly two decades in the Senate and nearly six decades as a state and then federal lawmaker.
Alsobrooks would make history, if elected in November, as the first Black senator in Maryland, a state where approximately 30% of the population is Black.
While Hogan and Alsobrooks were tied, the poll indicated Vice President Kamala Harris far ahead of Trump in Maryland. According to the survey, Harris topped Trump by 30 points in a multi-candidate field and by 32 points in a head-to-head match-up.
With Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a roughly two-to-one margin in the state, Hogan will need a good chunk of cross-over voters and has been highlighting his opposition to Trump and his independence from his party as he runs for the Senate.
"Republicans can’t count on my vote,"Hogan said in an earlier campaign ad.
Hogan, who flirted with a 2024 White House run before deciding against it, stood out from most other Republicans this spring for publicly calling for the guilty verdicts in Trump's criminal trial to be respected.
However, Alsobrooks and Democrats have repeatedly reminded voters that Hogan has described himself as a "lifelong Republican," and that Trump, in a Fox News interview earlier this year, said he would like to see Hogan win.
Hogan skipped July's Republican National Convention, where Trump was formally nominated, and has said he would not be voting for the former president. Hogan's campaign, after the former president's comments, spotlighted in a statement that "Governor Hogan has been clear he is not supporting President Trump just as he didn’t in 2016 and 2020."
A recent strategy memo from Hogan adviser Russ Schriefer noted that "our research indicates that these voters will support the Governor when they are reminded about his commitments and track record of independent leadership."
Democrats control the Senate by a razor-thin 51-49 margin, and Republicans are looking at a favorable election map this year with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs.
One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP.
Republicans are also aiming to flip seats in Ohio and Montana, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago. And five more Democratic-held seats up for grabs this year are in crucial presidential-election battleground states.
With Democrats trying to protect their fragile Senate majority, Hogan's late entry into the race in February gave them an unexpected headache in a state previously considered safe territory.
