Former Maryland Governor, 2024 Senate Candidate Larry Hogan on Air with New TV Ad

Republicans in Washington are counting their lucky stars they have a top-tier candidate running for retiring Democratic Senator Ben Cardin’s open seat this cycle in Maryland, the state Joe Biden carried by more than 30 points in 2020.

Larry Hogan — the popular, anti–Donald Trump Republican ex-two-term governor — announced last week a $1 million hybrid ad buy in his bid to make his reliably Democratic state’s open Senate seat competitive in November. The ads will run through the Republican primary on May 14.

“Like you, I’m completely fed up,” Hogan says in a new 30-second spot that will run this week as part of that ad buy, sent exclusively to National Review. “Enough is enough. Cut reckless spending, support our police, and secure the border.”

Hogan’s entrance into the race in February came as a surprise to many Republican powerbrokers in Washington, some of whom have spent years trying to recruit him to run for Senate. “They’ve been trying to convince me to do this for a long time,” Hogan joked to National Review last month. More from my mid March report here:

His entrance in Maryland’s open Senate race adds an experienced name to Senate Republican leaders’ already long list of strong and vetted candidates in 2024 — a year when Democratic incumbents are up for reelection in a number of red and purple states such as Ohio, Montana, and Pennsylvania. (Deep-red West Virginia is already seen as a lost cause now that centrist Democratic senator Joe Manchin is retiring.)

And while Maryland still stands deep blue, Hogan’s candidacy means Democrats can no longer take the state for granted. Whether Democrats nominate Prince George’s County executive Angela Alsobrooks or wealthy Total Wine & More founder and congressman David Trone, the party’s eventual Senate nominee will likely lean on national resources to keep Cardin’s seat in a year when vulnerable Democrats in other battlegrounds will need every penny they can get.