GOP Senate Candidate Digs In Hard Against Voting For Trump, Who Endorsed Him

GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan of Maryland stood defiant in shunning Donald Trump ’s endorsement, saying Sunday he will not vote for the former president.

“I stand up to him probably more than just about anyone and I”ll continue to,” Hogan said on “Face the Nation.” (Watch the video below.)

Hogan noted that he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020. Recently his campaign released an ad highlighting the “horror” of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, further pressing a wedge between him and the former president.

Hogan had two terms as governor of Maryland, a Democratic stronghold where the party’s presidential nominees have easily carried the state for decades.

HuffPost wrote previously that Hogan is the only Senate candidate on the GOP side who has “broken significantly with Trump” in this election cycle.

But Hogan is facing an uphill battle against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks. He trails her by a sizable margin in an aggregation of recent polls .

“I’m not running just for the Republican Party,” said Hogan (who incidentally won’t be voting for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris either). “It’s not just about red vs. blue, which is what my opponent wants it to be about. I’m concerned about the red, white and blue. I’m willing to put country over party. And I’m hoping that the voters will be willing to do the same thing.”

Trump, who has previously called Hogan a RINO (or “Republican in name only”), told Fox News in June that he wanted Hogan to win so the GOP could possibly reclaim the Senate. The former president said he was “essentially” endorsing him.

Hogan’s campaign forcefully responded that the former governor wasn’t returning the favor .