RNC’s Lara Trump Declines To Commit To Support Republican Larry Hogan in Maryland Senate Race After His Comment on Trump Verdict

Republican leaders in the Trump orbit are shunning the former GOP governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, who is in a competitive race to flip a Senate seat to red from blue. Mr. Hogan’s crime? Telling voters to “respect” the outcome of President Trump’s trial before the conviction had even been announced.Moments before Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his Manhattan case, Mr. Hogan said all Americans should respect the process and the rule of law.“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. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law,” Mr. Hogan said in a social media post Friday afternoon.The co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Lara Trump, who is also the former president’s daughter-in-law, declined to say on Sunday whether the committee will continue to support Mr. Hogan in his run for the Senate following his statement. According to a recent poll from Emerson College, Mr. Hogan trails his Democratic opponent, Angela Alsobrooks, by ten points, though she sits at just 48 percent. “I’ll have to get back to you,” Ms. Trump said when asked the question during a CNN interview. “I don’t support what he just said,” Ms. Trump added. “I think it’s ridiculous, and I think anybody who’s not speaking up in the face of [it] … doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone.“He doesn’t deserve the respect of anybody in the Republican Party at this point,” she continued. “It’s really upsetting to hear that.”When asked if she is comfortable ceding a potentially winnable seat to the Democrats, Mrs. Trump deflected and said again that Mr. Hogan was wrong to make his statement. “What I’ll tell you is that, of course, we want to win as a party, but that is a shame and I think he should’ve thought long and hard before he said that publicly,” Ms. Trump responded. A fellow governor, Governor Sununu, said Mrs. Trump’s statement was unhelpful if the GOP actually wants to win back control of the Senate in November. “That was … a bad statement by Lara, without a doubt. We want him to win the Senate race. He was a great governor of Maryland, he’s talking to his constituents and to his base, and I hope everybody in Maryland goes out to vote for him.”Shortly after Mr. Hogan issued his statement Friday, Trump’s top advisor Chris LaCivita said the former Maryland governor had just “ended” his campaign for Senate. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is responsible for electing Republicans to the Senate, has supported Mr. Hogan vociferously in the past. When Mr. Hogan first jumped into the Senate race in February, Senator Daines, who serves as chairman of the NRSC, said he could be an independent voice for Maryland. “Governor Hogan is a great leader for Maryland, and that’s why he remains overwhelmingly popular in the state. We look forward to welcoming him to the United States Senate,” Mr. Daines said at the time. A spokesman for Mr. Daines both did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

RNC’s Lara Trump Declines To Commit To Support Republican Larry Hogan in Maryland Senate Race After His Comment on Trump Verdict

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