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It’s the final sprint before Election Day and one of the biggest races is happening in Maryland, where the results could tip the balance of power in Congress.
Democratic candidate and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks faces off with Republican candidate and former governor Larry Hogan in the U.S. Senate race.
Mere days before the general election on Monday, a CNN report said that Hogan touted former President Donald Trump’s endorsement at a private donor event, a different tune to what Hogan told WTOP last June when he said that he had “no interest” in the Republican presidential candidate’s endorsement.
Hogan joined WTOP anchors Anne Kramer and Shawn Anderson Thursday to talk about the report and the election.
Listen to the full interview below or read the transcript. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Shawn Anderson: So right off the top, we have to ask you about the CNN report that says you touted Donald Trump’s endorsement at a private donor event recently. We remember when you joined us here on WTOP back in June, right after Donald Trump endorsed you, we asked you about it. You said you weren’t looking for the endorsement. You didn’t want it. CNN reporting is saying something in contrast to that. What is going on with what you told that private donor?
Larry Hogan: Well, this is just typical kind of 11th hour. You know, politics as usual, with people cutting things out of context and trying to make a big deal out of it. Nothing changed whatsoever. The same thing I said to you, I’ve said 100 other times throughout the campaign, I just said it on CNN, the day before yesterday on Wolf Blitzer, that, you know, I don’t accept Trump’s endorsement, that I’m not supporting Trump and not voting for Trump. You know, my position is very clear. This was just a simple discussion with one guy. It wasn’t an event, and the guy said something about Trump hating me, and I just said, “Actually, Trump endorsed me.” That’s all there is to it. It didn’t change my position on that endorsement and there’s no story there whatsoever.
Anne Kramer: Governor, how much does it concern you, or how much do you have to work in these final days to try and get those Trump supporters, though?
Larry Hogan: Yeah, I think we’re doing great with Republicans. I think we’re overperforming by a lot, and actually doing better with Republicans than Donald Trump. But we’re winning independents overwhelmingly by more than 20 points, and most of our focus right now is just convincing a handful of Democrats who voted for me twice and who still have a favorable opinion that I’m going to be the same strong independent leader I’ve always been, that I’m still going to stand up to the extremes of both parties and try to work together in a bipartisan way.
Shawn Anderson: Governor, we understand that there are some mailers being sent around to Maryland voters pushing support for the third person on the ballot, libertarian Mike Scott saying he’ll be the Senator to uphold conservative values. The calls to voters and messages are reportedly coming from a political action committee. What do you know about that? What’s your reaction to that?
Larry Hogan: It’s really disgraceful, and it’s people that talk about preserving democracy trying to undermine democracy, and it’s a far-left dark money democratic group that’s pretending to be like Trump Republicans, and it’s a total disinformation campaign trying to confuse voters and to suppress the vote. And it’s outrageous and unacceptable, and we’ve been taking kind of unfair attacks since February with $50 million of outside money, but this one is just complete disinformation, pretending to be someone else and sending out fake messages to promote the Democratic candidate.
Anne Kramer: Governor, let’s ask about early voting. The state of Maryland says as of last night, 835,000 people have cast ballots at early voting centers in Maryland since last Thursday. Early voting ends tonight in Maryland. Now those numbers from the state don’t include absentee or provisional ballots. What do you make of the numbers? And then, what’s your strategy as you push through these five days to next Tuesday?
Larry Hogan: Well, we’re really excited that the turnout is terrific. And I’ve been at early voting centers all across the state, and there was, you know, a lot of folks voting by mail, a lot of people out there. There’s tremendous enthusiasm. We think the momentum is with us. And you know, today’s the last day of early voting, and I encourage your listeners, and they have until eight o’clock tonight to early vote, and then your last chance will be next Tuesday, and I think it’s going to be a high turnout. Right now, early voting is higher than it was in 2020 which we think is terrific. The more people participating in the process, the better. And we’re feeling strong. We feel we’ve got all the momentum. We’re closing the gap, and I think we’re going to pull, for the third time in a row, pull the biggest surprise upset in America.
Shawn Anderson: Governor, one of the biggest obstacles you have to winning this race is convincing those moderate Democrats that usually have voted for you in the past to stay with you this time around. Interesting that you’re running a TV ad saying, “Hey, it’s OK if you vote for Kamala Harris. But you know, hey, I’m Larry Hogan, remember me?” What about that? Would it have served you better to say that you would not caucus with Republicans if you win the race?
Larry Hogan: Well, yeah, I’m just asking that Democrats continue to trust me and to give me a vote, just like they did twice before. We’re running seven different commercials with real voters. I think five of them are Democrats, saying why they’re voting for me. They’re not scripted commercials. They’re not paid actors. They’re real people, you know, and we have independents, Republicans and Democrats. My opponent is just running attack ads and kind of, you know, phony stuff. Ours are real people, including the one you’re talking about, it was a woman who was, I think, the president of the Democratic Women’s Club in Montgomery County, who’s just said that she’s splitting her ticket, that she’s voting for Harris and for me. Currently, our polling shows somewhere between 25-30% of all Harris voters are splitting their ticket, just like the one you see in the TV.
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