Former Maryland congressman John K. Delaney, one of 15 candidates currently seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, would like to see another Marylander in the White House election – in the other party’s primary.
“Every day Donald Trump wakes up and finds a new way to divide our country and denigrate the office of the Presidency,” Delaney said in a statement Thursday. “His behavior is disgraceful and an embarrassment to the American people. Unless Republicans believe that Donald Trump is a fair and accurate representation of the Republican party as a whole, they should put up a challenger to run against him in the primary election.”
That’s where the other Marylander comes in – specifically Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), who is being touted as a possible alternative to Trump by the “Never-Trump-ers” within the GOP.
“One of the biggest problems facing the country is that very few Republicans have shown the courage to stand up to Trump,” Delaney said. “We can’t go very far as a country if only one political party is committed to decency, honesty, and character.
“Voices like John Kasich and Governor Hogan, from my state, would do an enormous service to not just their party, but to their fellow Americans to stand up and challenge this President.”
Hogan isn’t willing to heed Delaney’s advice just yet, but he is getting an awful lot of national media attention – and has been the object of much speculation – in recent weeks for his willingness to publicly criticize Trump, a rarity among Republican elected officials.
“I believe that we need a Democrat in the White House and that we will have a Democrat in the White House in 2021,” Delaney said. “But step one in repairing our democracy is having two political parties committed to truth and decency.”
Of course, Delaney hasn’t always been so enamored of Hogan. Back in March of 2016, he paid for a mobile billboard to circle the State House, taunting Hogan with the words, “Will you support Trump as the Republican nominee?”
Another panel on the truck proclaimed, “Silence is an endorsement.” Delaney at the time was thought to be pondering a challenge to Hogan in 2018 — which, of course, never happened as he wound up aiming higher.
Hogan opposed Trump in the primary, skipped the Republican convention at which he was nominated, and refused to support him in the general election.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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