Maryland Republican Senate nominee Larry Hogan congratulated Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) for being selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate on Tuesday and praised his dedication as governor.
Hogan worked with Walz for four years while he was governor of Maryland.
“I want to extend my congratulations to Governor Walz on being selected as the Democratic vice presidential nominee,” Hogan posted on X. “We had the chance to work together as fellow governors, and while we come from different parties, I have always appreciated his dedication to public service. I believe we need more governors at the national level because governors have to actually get stuff done. I wish Tim and his family well in the campaign ahead.”
Hogan did not offer the same amount of praise when former President Donald Trump selected Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate, remarking that there was “no question” Vance and Trump have a problem with women.
“Oh, there’s no question about that,” Hogan said. “I thought it was very unhelpful for both of them to make those kind of comments. It’s not going to help them … it doesn’t seem like he’s getting off to the kind of start they’d hoped.”
He also said he doesn’t know “the real J.D. Vance.”
“I don’t know J.D. Vance. I’ve never met him,” Hogan said. “I’ve heard, you know, he used to say things really critical of Trump — and now he’s pretty much completely changed. … I just know that those kinds of comments are not helpful.”
Hogan’s differing comments on the Democratic and Republican vice presidential nominees further reinforce his efforts to appeal to Democrats in deep-blue Maryland. His Senate opponent, Angela Alsobrooks, celebrated the choice.
I couldn’t be more excited for Vice President Harris, for Maryland, and for our country in her decision of Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate.
The vision that Vice President Harris and Governor Walz share is one where our freedoms are protected in the United States.
It’s… https://t.co/bHQQRXjbjr
— Angela Alsobrooks (@AlsobrooksForMD) August 6, 2024
Hogan previously told the Washington Examiner that he does not plan to vote for either Harris or Trump. “I don’t plan to vote for either of the two major party candidates, and that hasn’t changed at all,” Hogan said. “Harris’s policies are disastrous, far-left policies.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the Alsobrooks and Trump campaigns.
On social media, Hogan has faced attacks from both sides of the aisle. Democratic-affiliated accounts knocked him for not endorsing the ticket as a whole while GOP accounts lamented the post as a whole.
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“It’s truly sad that in this day and age a personal statement of well wishes from a former colleague can be spun into an attack,” Hogan spokeswoman Blake Kernen said in a statement. “This wasn’t a political statement, it was a personal statement. Gov. Hogan worked personally with Gov. Walz as Chair of the Nat’l Governors Assoc.”
“Governor Hogan is a different kind of leader who leads from a human level — he doesn’t issue obligatory partisan statements,” Kernen added.