Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has decided not to seek the Republican Party’s presidential candidacy in 2024, contrary to popular belief. Hogan told CBS News’ Robert Costa, “I’ve decided that I am not going to run as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president. It was a difficult decision.”
In 2022, Hogan finished his second term as governor of Maryland and left office with extraordinarily high approval ratings in his home state. In the final poll conducted during his term, 77 percent of Marylanders said they were satisfied with the work he accomplished as governor. However, Democrats, who were generally in favor of Hogan’s moderate tendencies, accounted for a large portion of his support. Republican primary voters preferred the more conservative candidate, Dan Cox, over Hogan’s chosen successor Kelly Schulz in 2022 because they were less fond of the former governor. In response, Hogan declined to support or campaign for Cox.
Hogan’s recent trips to Iowa and New Hampshire had stoked rumors of a potential 2024 campaign. Hogan never garnered a sizable amount of support in surveys, but the exact characteristics that made him popular in deep-blue Maryland precluded him from doing so nationally.
Hogan acknowledged that he gave running for president “serious thought,” but he also acknowledged that the odds were against him in the primary. “I didn’t want a fight to break out among a crowd of people. Trump and DeSantis are currently at the top of the field, consuming all the oxygen and receiving all the attention. The majority of the remaining population is in the single digits, and the greater the number, the lower the likelihood of someone climbing to the top.”
One of the hardest decisions Hogan has ever had to make was not to run for president, he said “My party and the country are both very important to me. To try to get us back to a point where we have a more upbeat, optimistic vision for America, I believe I have served as a voice of reason.”
Former president Donald Trump and former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley have already declared their intention to run again. Although he hasn’t declared, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also generally anticipated to run. A number of unknown contenders are also anticipated to enter the race.
