Larry Hogan Says He Will Not Vote for Trump-Backed, ‘QAnon Whackjob’ Nominated to Replace Him
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Maryland’s Republican Party nominated two hard-right candidates on Tuesday to represent the party in both the governor’s race and for attorney general – a move one GOP operative called “ritualized mass suicide.”
“The only thing missing was Jim Jones and a glass of Kool-Aid. I hope it was a good party,” said Doug Mayer, who was a senior adviser to Kelly Schulz – the moderate candidate popular incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) chose to replace him as he is term-limited.
NEW: Maryland @GovLarryHogan will ~NOT~ vote for Republican gubernatorial nominee @DanCoxEsq in the general election, Hogan’s spokesman @riccimike tells me.
Hogan is traveling today after spending two days at a Republican Governors Association conference in Colorado.
— Pamela Wood (@pwoodreporter) July 20, 2022
Schulz lost her primary bid to Dan Cox, the Trump-backed candidate, and was down some 8 points on Tuesday night when the election was called.
Cox, a state lawmaker in Maryland, tried to impeach Hogan over his Covid-19 restrictions in the state, spoke at a Qanon conference in the Spring and has been an unrepentant supporter of both Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol – tweeting that day that Mike Pence is a “traitor.”
Hogan, who referred to Cox as a “QAnon whackjob” in response to Donald Trump’s endorsement last November, will not vote for Cox in the general election, according to his spokesman Michael Ricci who spoke with local reporter Pamela Wood.
WATCH | @GovLarryHogan responds to former President Donald Trump endorsing Del. Dan Cox.
Hogan calls Cox a “QAnon whack job.”
More ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/qw6VEhW0oI
— Mikenzie Frost (@MikenzieFrost) November 23, 2021
Democrats pumped in a reported $1,000,000 into Maryland to help boost Cox, believing that he is so extreme it would ensure the party an electoral lock on winning the governorship.
The tactic has been used elsewhere in the country, from Pennsylvania to Arizona, and has raised many an eyebrow from pundits who warn that in the current electoral environment boosting insurrectionists and other far-right candidates will have additional unintended consequences.
For attorney general, the Maryland GOP has nominated Michael Peroutka. Vice published a profile of Peroutka ahead of the primary and noted that “he believes public education is a communist plot, abortion, and gay marriage violate God’s law, and the concept of separation of church and state is a ‘great lie.’”
Peroutka also self-identifies as a “confederate” and has said publicly that he is “still angry” Maryland was blocked from seceding during the Civil War.
If elected, he would be the state’s chief law enforcement officer and, as Vice notes, has publicly stated he believes the U.S. should “take a biblical worldview and apply it to civil law and government.”
While it’s highly unlikely that either Cox or Peroutka will win in deep blue Maryland come November, the result of Tuesday’s primaries assured “that Larry Hogan Republicanism is all but over,” wrote Jim Swift in the Bulwark.
