On Monday, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) welcomed the state’s 10 Democratic presidential electors to the State House, and offered congratulations anew to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris.
Now he’s taking his efforts to preach the gospel of bipartisanship as a way to boost his national profile one step further.
On Tuesday, the national organization No Labels, whose stated goal is “to build the bipartisan governing coalition capable of solving America’s toughest problems,” announced that Hogan would become its national co-chairman, joining forces with former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent after losing a Democratic primary in 2006.
Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R). File photo by Danielle E. Gaines.
In a statement, the 10-year-old organization called Hogan “a renowned leader who embodies its pragmatic brand of politics more than any elected official in America,” and said Hogan would speak at a Zoom event Tuesday night with No Labels supporters from across the country.
“I am honored to help lead No Labels at a time when our message of putting aside partisan differences for the common good is needed more than ever,” Hogan said in a statement. “Amid this awful pandemic, the people in my state and across our country are desperate for leaders to work across the aisle and focus on solving the urgent problems we face. “I have admired the work No Labels has done to empower these kinds of leaders and to mobilize grassroots supporters, and this work is just beginning.”
Hogan in recent weeks has been a vocal supporter of the compromise $908 billion COVID-19 relief proposal, which has slowly been gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. No Labels said that with his new platform, “Hogan will be a visible voice for this pragmatic, results-oriented leadership.”
This is a new collaboration between Hogan and Lieberman, but it won’t be the first. Hogan and Lieberman both cut campaign ads this year for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a top Democratic target who won a fifth term this year. Hogan has been highly critical of Trump; Lieberman frequently crosses party lines to endorse Republicans.
“Larry Hogan is such an exceptional leader on every level and he really does defy labels,” Lieberman said.
Hogan told The New York Times that he’s making efforts to reach centrists as well as pro-Trump Republicans. The governor recently endorsed Georgia Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, staunch Trump supporters who are in run-off elections that will decide party control of the U.S. Senate.
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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