A recent poll out of Maryland shows that former Republican Governor Larry Hogan is either leading or tied with his two possible Democrat challengers in the Senate race in the state, The Hill reported.
Hogan announced his run to replace outgoing Democrat Senator Ben Cardin on February 9, saying after 8 years of “toxic politics,” he decided to run for the Senate “not to serve one party” but to “be part of the solution” that would “fix our nation’s broken politics.”
Currently, two Democrats are vying for the party’s Senate nomination in Maryland – Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Congressman David Trone.
An Emerson College poll released on February 15, found that registered voters in the state prefer Hogan to possible challenger Angela Alsobrooks by 7 points, 44 percent to 37 percent.
Meanwhile, voters are evenly divided 42 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical match-up between Hogan and Congressman David Thone,
Hogan left the governor’s mansion last year with a 77 percent approval rating in a deep blue state that hasn’t had a Republican Senator in nearly 40 years.
The moderate Republican, who in January left the No Labels Party, has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump, which could explain why he is polling so well in deep blue Maryland.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans aggressively lobbied Hogan to run against Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen in the 2022 Midterms, but Hogan rebuffed their efforts.
According to Emerson College Polling executive director Spencer Kimball, Hogan’s appeal crosses party lines. In addition to appealing to the majority of Republican respondents in the poll, Hogan also earned 48 percent of Independents against Rep. Trone and nearly 25 percent of Democrats.
Against Alsobrooks, Independents broke solidly for Hogan, 43 percent to 18 percent. Even 31 percent of Democrats chose Hogan over Alsobrooks, Kimball said.
