Will Hogan be a hero in Maryland Senate race? (Salena Zito)

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The Washington Examiner

Salena Zito
April 12, 2024

CUMBERLAND — It is just after noon on Friday, and the snow, ice, and freezing rain has been pounding the western end of the state since the night before. Still, the torrid weather has done little to cause former Maryland governor Larry Hogan to be late to any of his stops on the first of his three-day campaign bus tour officially kicking off his run for the U.S. Senate.

After early morning visits to a coffeehouse in Oakland, a fulfillment center in Grantsville, and the industrial construction company Beitzel Corporation, the Republican Hogan pulls up to the Western Maryland Works tucked along a stream by an industrial park in suburban Cumberland.

He is greeted warmly by the community college students all working in different trades, from welding to carpentry to computer design and more, to discuss their decision to go into the trades rather than pursue a four-year degree.

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[Valin]

TOS Hates him because..not really sure, but the do.

Then there is this

Commentary: A look at Larry Hogan’s record on key issues
Larry Ottinger   
February 26, 2024

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As relates to Maryland workers and their families, Hogan vetoed legislation to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 over several years. Hogan also vetoed an earned sick leave bill requiring workers to be given five paid sick days per year, and the establishment of a paid family and medical leave insurance program. The Maryland General Assembly overrode these vetoes with the hard work of a broad coalition of civic, labor, small business and faith groups, state legislative leaders and the public.

On the issue of reproductive justice and access to abortion care, Hogan vetoed a law to increase the number of trained providers and availability of services, including in the two-thirds of Maryland counties without a single provider. Hogan issued his veto just as the Supreme Court was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade and Maryland was facing the imminent need to provide care to patients from neighboring states like West Virginia. After the Maryland General Assembly overrode his veto, Hogan denied a request from the state comptroller to immediately release $3.5 million in appropriated funds for training new providers in quality and safe care.

On education, Hogan vetoed the landmark reform legislation called Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, which was developed by the Kirwan Commission after extensive input and careful study. The legislature overrode Hogan’s veto to enact this 10-year plan to “expand pre-kindergarten programs and increase funding for schools with high concentrations of poverty, increase pay and career opportunities for teachers, create new career pathways for high schoolers who don’t plan to attend college, and establish an accountability board….”

On preventing gun violence, Hogan vetoed background checks for the sale and transfer of shotguns and rifles, legislation eventually enacted over his veto in response to a 2018 mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom in which five people were killed and two people wounded by a gunman using a shotgun.

On voting, Hogan vetoed a bill that would have given voters an opportunity to sign their mail-in ballots if they forgot to do so. In 2015, Hogan vetoed a bill — subsequently overridden — to allow approximately 44,000 ex-felons on probation or parole to restore their voting rights.

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