Teichert ejects from Senate race to back Hogan, while Dems roll out endorsements and bash ex-governor on abortion

The field of Republicans vying for U.S. Senate will get a little smaller Friday as one of the leading candidates departs the race and endorses former Gov. Larry Hogan.

John Teichert, a retired Air Force General, will announce he is ending the campaign he began in October and throwing his support behind Hogan, who was a surprise entry at the filing deadline last Friday.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it is not my time,” Teichert said in a video released to Maryland Matters. “I’ve also come to the conclusion that it is Gov. Larry Hogan’s time. That we desperately need his proven style of collaborative leadership that benefits all Marylanders at this pivotal moment in our nation’s history.”

Brigadier General @JohnforMaryland has given a lifetime of service and dedication to the country. He is a true patriot, devoted public servant, and a great Marylander. I am truly humbled to have his support, and I look forward to working alongside him to unite our party on the… pic.twitter.com/q3EaE5akQ8

— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) February 16, 2024

Before Hogan’s entry, Teichert was effectively the establishment candidate with endorsements from former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford and several other current and former Republican elected officials.

Teichert, an Anne Arundel County resident, is a 33-year veteran of the Air Force who earned the nickname “Dragon” because of his skills as a fighter pilot.

“The general has given a lifetime of service and dedication to our country,” Hogan said in a statement. “He is a true patriot, devoted public servant, and a great Marylander. I am truly humbled to have his support, and I look forward to working alongside him to unite our party on the road to victory in November.”

Teichert’s withdrawal from the race leaves just six Republicans in the primary race including Hogan, Robin Ficker, the Montgomery County anti-tax gadfly and Chris Chaffee, the Republican nominee who ran against U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) in 2022.

Meanwhile, the leading Democrats running for Senate, U.S. Rep. David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, continue to jockey for advantage ahead of the May 14 primary, as Hogan’s entry into the race seems to have intensified the pace of the campaign. Both candidates have rolled out high-profile endorsements in recent days, while Trone is touting a university poll that shows him running stronger than Alsobrooks in a general election matchup with Hogan.

That poll, of 1,000 registered voters conducted Monday and Tuesday by the Emerson College Polling Center for The Hill Newspaper and DC News Now, found Hogan and Trone tied at 42% each in a hypothetical matchup, with 16% undecided. Hogan led Alsobrooks in the poll, 44% to 37%, with 19% undecided. The poll had a 3-point margin of error.

(In a White House election matchup, President Biden led former President Trump 55% to 32% in Maryland; but in a five-way race that included independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornell West and Jill Stein, Biden took 47%, Trump 31% and Kennedy 6%, while the other two got 1% each.)

Trone has been flooding the state’s airwaves for months, whereas Alsobrooks began running her first TV ad, in the Baltimore market, earlier this week.

“This poll confirms what we hear everywhere that I go: Marylanders are sick and tired of career politicians like Larry Hogan and Mitch McConnell and the special interests that they serve in Washington at the expense of hard-working Americans,” Trone said in a statement Thursday in response to the poll.

Alsobrooks on Thursday rolled out endorsements from five Baltimore City elected officials: State Sen. Antonio Hayes, Del. Marlon Amprey, and City Councilmembers John Bullock, Phylicia Porter and James Torrence — all Democrats.

The five appear in a video that the Alsobrooks campaign released Thursday afternoon.

“As state’s attorney and as county executive, Angela has fought for women and families,” Porter says in the video. “In the U.S. Senate, she will fight to ensure that a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body, is a decision between women and their doctors — not politicians and judges.”

Trone earlier this week unveiled a 30-second statewide TV ad featuring endorsements from Prince George’s County Councilmember Krystal Oriadha (D) and former state Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery).

“As a black woman that struggled during my pregnancy, it is so important to have elected officials that are not afraid to go against insurance. Big industry,” Oriadha says in the ad. “It’s important to have people that look like me, but it’s more important to have people that are going to fight for me.”

Reproductive health has already become a primary issue in the campaign, as Democrats and their allied groups bashed Hogan for an interview he gave to CNN Wednesday. In that interview, Hogan, who has described himself as personally opposed to abortion, said he did not see the necessity of enshrining abortion rights in the Maryland Constitution but also said he would not support any legislation in Congress seeking a nationwide ban on abortion.

Both Alsobrooks and Trone issued statements blasting Hogan on Wednesday, and Gov. Wes Moore (D) — who is backing Alsobrooks in the primary — issued a denunciation through his gubernatorial press office on Wednesday evening.

“Anyone who thinks that there is no threat to women’s reproductive rights and abortion access is delusional,” Moore said.

EMILY’s List, the fundraising juggernaut that supports Democratic women who support abortion rights, and has endorsed Alsobrooks in the Senate race, put out an email Thursday with the subject line: “SOUND THE ALARM: Larry Hogan’s Anti-Abortion Record Puts Marylanders at Risk.”

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