Republican senators are asking the Republican National Committee to tolerate Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan’s anti-Trump positions to help win a Senate majority.

Hogan was a rare Republican who defended former President Donald Trump’s conviction, drawing outrage from the pro-Trump RNC. Some Senate Republicans are defending Hogan, including pro-Trump senators, arguing that it would be more beneficial in the long run.

“We’ve got to give him latitude to win his race in Maryland,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Punchbowl News. “What we don’t want to do is have a scenario where we win the White House and we don’t have a majority in the Senate. That would make no sense at all. President Trump would get nothing done.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines (R-MT) concurred, saying, “Larry Hogan is running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, not Mississippi.”

Republicans struggled to win what were considered easy contests in 2022 as most of Trump’s selections won their primary contests but failed to convince the broader electorate to support them.

Two years later, Republicans are hoping to capitalize on poor polling showing President Joe Biden is not on a path to reelection and a favorable Senate map that has Republicans defending safe seats and spending money on going on offense in nine major contests.

But some senators aren’t viewing Hogan’s plan as something that will be effective.

“He obviously is going to run a different campaign than I would run,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told the outlet. “But look, when he says things that alienate the majority of Republicans. … I think it’s certainly reasonable to criticize him. I still hope he wins.”

Hogan drew heavy backlash for his comments on last week’s verdict.

“Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process. At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders — regardless of party — must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship,” he said in a post on X. “We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”

Among the thousands of comments outnumbering the number of likes was former New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who called Hogan a “Spineless weak loser!”

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RNC Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump blasted Hogan for his comments.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Lara Trump said during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning. “He doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point. And quite frankly, anybody in America, if that’s the way you feel. That’s very upsetting.”