Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland is eagerly entertaining entreaties to challenge President Trump for the 2020 Republican nomination but concedes the president is too strong right now to make it worth his biting the bullet.
A handful of ardent “Never Trump” Republicans are urging Hogan to take on Trump. But the 62-year-old governor told the Washington Examiner he isn’t interested in launching “a kamikaze mission” just to wound the president and facilitate a general election victory for the eventual Democratic nominee.
Before Hogan forges ahead and assembles a 2020 campaign, he says he wants to see the president more vulnerable — more so than he appears presently, at least. And that, he suggested, might just happen. Alluding to special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal investigation into possible collusion with Russia in 2016, the governor said he expects the political damage to the president to pile up soon.
“If things stay the way they are, it doesn’t make too much sense,” Hogan said of a possible run, during an interview at a Washington hotel while in town for a National Governors Association conference. But he added: “I don’t think things are going to stay the way they are.”
Hogan said “there are a lot of people approaching me” and asking him to consider running for president. “I am listening to them. There are some pretty good arguments.”
“But I also understand the realities of how difficult a primary challenge is against a sitting, incumbent president. At this point in time I am not a candidate,” the governor said.
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Hogan confirmed that he has been in touch with several Republican operatives about a possible presidential bid, including Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell. The governor also has spoken with Jerry Taylor, who runs the Niskanen Center, a center-right think tank in Washington that is opposed to Trump.
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. @GovLarryHogan lapping up 2020 attention but won't commit to 'kamikaze mission' just to wound @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/ljawdgWXid
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 22, 2019
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