Former GOP Maryland governor opts not to run for president in 2024
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland and a fierce critic of Donald Trump, said Sunday that he will not run for president in 2024.
“I would never run for president to sell books or position myself for a Cabinet role,” Hogan, 66, wrote in a New York Times opinion essay. “I have long said that
I care more about ensuring a future for the Republican Party than securing my own future in the Republican Party.”
The move is a recognition that while many in the
GOP are considering ways to move on from the Trump era, there is little appetite among primary voters for such a vocal critic of the former president.
Trump, the leading figure in the early field of Republican candidates, is facing just three formal challengers: his former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.
Others, including former Vice President Mike Pence, ex-secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, may join in the coming months.
One possible candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said Sunday on CNN’S “State of the Union” that “March is a message month” and that Republicans “need to have all alternatives” to Trump. “We don’t need to be led by arrogance and revenge in the future.”
Some Trump rivals, such as Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, could wait until summer to announce their campaigns.
In 2016, Trump won the
GOP nomination over a mass of primary competitors who splintered the support of voters who opposed him. No candidate was able to consolidate anti-trump voters, and Hogan said he did not want to contribute to a similar situation in 2024.
“Right now, you have, you know, Trump and Desantis at the top of the field — they’re soaking up all the oxygen, getting all the attention,” he told Robert Costa on CBS’ “Face The Nation.” “And then a whole lot of the rest of us in single digits, and the more of them you have, the less chance you have for somebody rising up.”
Hogan, a moderate Republican, wrapped up his second term as governor in January, serving for eight years in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin. He was Maryland’s second Republican governor ever to be reelected.