Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan acknowledged he isn’t as well known as some other potential 2024 contenders.
“I’m a guy, I’m not going to have the highest name ID and I’m not going to have the most money,” Hogan said in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday.
Hogan probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he didn’t manage to draw the crowd that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or former Vice President Mike Pence did when they addressed an audience at St. Anselm College. The breakfast buffet for Hogan’s speech fit into the speaking room. It was crowded into the hall for Pompeo and Pence.
The Old Line State’s governor nevertheless made his presidential intentions “eggs” official this week, when he made the trip to the Granite State’s Queen City for Politics & Eggs, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics sporadic speaker series event that is a near-required stop for White House hopefuls.
Hogan can now be added to the list of potential Republican primary contenders to speak at the event and before an audience of eventual first-in-the-nation primary voters. His address comes about two weeks after Pompeo made the same appearance and a couple of months after Pence spoke to a packed audience in Manchester. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was there in April.
Hogan would not make a 2024 announcement before he leaves office as Maryland’s 62nd governor in January, he told reporters Thursday, but did acknowledge that he was considering his political future and pointed to his popularity as governor as proof he may make a good candidate, if he decides to run.
Hogan used his speech to criticize President Biden’s two years in office and to distinguish himself from other Republicans, calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ move to send about 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard a publicity stunt and no real solution to a serious problem.
One thing Hogan is not is a Trump Republican, a fact he was quite clear about Thursday when asked if he would endorse the 45th president should he seek a second term in 2024.
“No, I didn’t endorse him last time and I haven’t seen anything that’s convinced me to do otherwise,” he said.
Since the late ’90s, almost every candidate to take a primary debate stage in the months before a presidential election has made a trip to St. Anselm’s for breakfast.
Ahead of 2020, speakers included U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Eric Swalwell and former Gov. Deval Patrick, among others.
Ahead of the 2016 election, both Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke.
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