DC News Now
By Susan Tran, Gabby Allen
August 15, 2024
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Watch the full piece here.
When Larry Hogan was Maryland’s governor, he consistently ranked as one of the top three governors in the country – but the Republican’s run for U.S. Senate this November poses a different challenge.
Now, he has to secure votes from Democrats who are worried about keeping the very slim majority in the upper chamber.
On a sunny Sunday morning, we met up with Hogan as he was leaving a two-hour service at Iglesia Hispana Emmanuel Church in Annapolis. He shook hands, took photos and chatted with members of the congregation before we drove to Ellicott City for lunch.
The 68-year-old took us to one of his favorite Korean restaurants, Chosun Hwaro, which has a large “Hogan for Senate” sign on its front lawn. His Korean-American wife of 20 years, Yumi, took over the ordering duties.
“I like spicy stuff. So, it’s a lot of that food that’s got a kick to it,” Hogan shared. “I’m a unicorn, you know. It’s kind of like a Republican guy getting elected in the bluest state in America.”
When Hogan married Yumi in 2004, he also became a dad to her three daughters, which recently put him at odds with JD Vance, the Republican Party’s Vice Presidential nominee.
A clip from an interview he did in 2021 recently resurfaced during which Vance made a comment about childless cat ladies, referencing women like Vice President Kamala Harris who did not give birth to children.
Hogan called the comment inappropriate.
“I love my daughters and my grandkids. And I thought it was a huge mistake,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of people that have difficulty having children or that marry later in life or for whatever reason, choose to not have kids.”
Hogan’s third campaign stop of the day was in Clarksville. Dr. Daisy Uppal at Charter Radiology organized an event there to introduce him to hundreds of voters from the Indian and Sikh communities.
After a quick speech, Hogan warmly greeted the crowd, posed for photos and met with supporters. Several people shared that they want to do everything they can to get him elected. One woman told Hogan she’s a Democrat and is voting for him. Another thanked him for his support of the Jewish community.
Hogan was sworn in as Maryland’s 62nd governor in January 2015.
Five months later, he was diagnosed with stage three non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He turned his hospital room into the governor’s office and continued to work.
“People just voted for me and I had to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to be going through some stuff.’ Then right after that, I was in 24-hour-a-day chemotherapy in a hospital,” Hogan explained.
He shared how his dad sobbed when he heard about Hogan’s diagnosis.
“He felt like I can’t help my little boy, you know, even though I was 50-something years old,” Hogan recalled.
His father, Lawrence Hogan Sr., was a three-term congressman for Maryland’s 5th District. Notably, he was the first Republican to vote to impeach President Richard Nixon. The independent streak continued with the younger Hogan, who maintains he’s long held a moderate view on any potentially pivotal votes on abortion rights.
We asked him to clarify a March 2024 interview where he said he would not speak specifically on legislation to guarantee abortion rights.
“What I said was, I haven’t seen the wording of the bill. And later I said, I saw the compromise bill. That’s the one Joe Manchin, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were on and I said I’d co-sponsor and vote for that bill,” Hogan explained.
We asked Hogan why he doesn’t just become an Independent if he’s more of a centrist, considering the Republican Party now seems to be fully in the same vein as Former President Donald Trump.
“I’ve been very independent my whole life, but you could either walk away and give up and say, ‘You know, just let the Party go down the tubes,’ or you can stand up and fight. And so, I just chose to stand up and fight,” he responded.
By late afternoon, we were in Baltimore for a neighborhood block party.
“The Ruth Kirk Family Festival. It’s a great day in the streets. Music is playing, there’s lots of people. It’s going to be fun. It’s a guy named Squeaky Kirk who runs it. And he’s a wonderful guy. Does a lot for the community. And it’ll be a fun party in the streets,” Hogan shared.
Data from the Maryland State Board of Elections shows Baltimore voters are 91% Democrats and in his last election in 2018, Hogan got 31% of the votes. Despite the statistics, when Hogan arrived on Sunday he was greeted like family.
Everyone called out to him as “Governor Hogan,” wanting a picture, to shake his hand or to share some praise.
Hogan chatted with Kirk, who referred to his friend as a brother.
“They don’t believe we all are brothers. I keep telling them we are. That is my brother,” Kirk said.
After a glowing introduction from Squeaky Kirk, Hogan took the microphone and said a few words about meeting Kirk 10 years ago being one of the most important things to happen in his life.
Hogan was at his fourth event and on hour 11 of his day but he said it felt like a day off and they were slacking. Hogan didn’t appear depleted, but the energy of the people surrounding him seemed to fuel his energy. We asked him what it was like to see such a diversity of support.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I mean, that’s one of the keys to my entire success.”
