In a state so overwhelmingly Democratic, there are constraints on just how conservative a conservative can be. In the U.S. Senate, such constraints do not exist. Larry Hogan will be free to let his inner conservative run wild.
I don’t know how he did it, but Larry Hogan, an old-school Reagan Republican, somehow fooled my mother into thinking that he is a moderate. She can be forgiven somewhat, I guess. She hasn’t spent 20 years working in and around Maryland politics like her son. But my mother is no pushover either.
We were sitting in the IHOP on Loch Raven Boulevard, across from Morgan State University, when she tried to explain to me how I had gotten Hogan all wrong. The conversation was beginning to grow heated when our waffles finally arrived. Just as the waitress put down the plates, my mother asked, “If he’s so conservative, why are his approval ratings so high — why did he get elected governor twice?” As she said this, she looked up at me with that little sparkle in her eye that she gets when she thinks she’s drawn blood.
“It’s complicated,” I said, as I reached for the syrup.
In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one, and where the Senate and House of Delegates are overwhelmingly Democrats, unavoidable political constraints make it difficult for Reagan conservatives like Hogan to act openly. Nonetheless, Hogan was able to do some things as governor that would have made Reagan proud.
According to Time Magazine, “Shortly before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Hogan vetoed a bill to increase the number of abortion providers throughout the state. … That same month, Hogan rejected a measure that would require companies to offer 12 weeks of partial paid medical leave … And in 2020, he blocked legislation to mandate background checks on private rifle and shotgun sales.” These are not the actions of a moderate.
Hogan proudly announces to anyone who will listen that he is a Reagan Republican. Not a Lincoln Republican, or even a Theodore Roosevelt or a Bush Republican. He’s a Reagan Republican! Anyone who has lived through the 1980s knows what message he’s sending.
After two failed congressional campaigns running as a Reagan Republican in 1981 and 1992, Hogan finally saw the error of his ways, and recast his public image into that of a moderate. Hogan is not a moderate. He said as much himself during a speech at the Reagan Library in 2022. His long focus on law and order, and “peace through strength” during the speech was a signal to the gathering that he had learned a thing or two about dog whistling from his hero “The Gipper.” Hogan reminded listeners that when Reagan ran for president in 1980, he was an early and committed supporter.
Reagan ran as an unapologetic racist. To make this point clear, he kicked off his campaign with a speech for states’ rights in Neshoba, Mississippi, the place where civil rights advocates James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were killed during the “Freedom Summer” voting rights campaign in 1964. “By touting himself as a States’ Rights candidate near the site of one of the nation’s most famous hate crimes, Reagan offered voters a racism that was both obvious and unspoken,” Gabrielle Bruney of Esquire Magazine wrote in 2020.
It didn’t matter if it was voting rights or criminal justice or social welfare, Ronald Reagan was committed to preventing the material advancement of African Americans in this country. His opposition to affirmative action bordered on the pathological. Not only did he campaign aggressively against it (with the slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again,” no less) after winning office, Reagan’s administration stopped enforcing laws related to affirmative action and systematically removed supporters from their posts throughout the federal government. Hogan found Reagan’s message so compelling that he famously broke politically with his father, who was supporting Gerald Ford, and backed Reagan instead in his unsuccessful 1976 campaign for the Republican nomination, and again in 1980.
Supporting a man so unrepentantly racist as Ronald Reagan is nothing to be proud of, but Hogan clearly is. What Hogan refuses to fully appreciate, however, is that Maryland is not “Reagan country.” It leans strongly to the left.
According to the website FiveThirtyEight, Maryland ranks fifth among the most progressive states in the nation. Admittedly, Maryland is not as liberal as it was even a decade ago, but it’s not Wyoming either and never will be. Given the state’s traditionally progressive stance on issues like abortion, social justice and gun control, sending another conservative voice to Capitol Hill is not in Maryland’s best interests. And, despite his best efforts to convince people like my mother that he is a moderate, Hogan has revealed himself to be a conservative when it matters most.
In a state so overwhelmingly Democratic, there are constraints on just how conservative a conservative can be. In the U.S. Senate, such constraints do not exist. Hogan will be free to let his inner conservative run wild, as he waits patiently for Donald Trump to leave the stage — so that he can sweep up Trump’s supporters.
Judging from his public actions and comments, Hogan isn’t running to represent Maryland’s interests in the U.S. Senate. He’s running to represent Reagan’s.
K. Ward Cummings (kwardcummings@gmail.com) is a former senior adviser to members of Congress and a former director of intergovernmental affairs for the Maryland Secretary of State.
