Source: Politics<\/p>\n
When Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler \u2014 a Trump impeachment backer whom the former president is aggressively targeting for defeat in 2022 \u2014 threw a fundraiser last month, she was accompanied by a fellow Republican who\u2019d trekked from the other side of the country: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.<\/p>\n
The foray was part of a broader effort Hogan is launching to bolster the ever-growing list of Republicans former President Donald Trump is trying to oust in this year\u2019s midterm elections. Hogan has hosted fundraisers for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and he is looking at helping others, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, another impeachment supporter facing a Trump-endorsed Republican challenger. He has loudly advocated for the Republican Governors Association to defend Kemp and other sitting incumbents under fire, a position the organization has embraced.<\/p>\n
With the initiative, Hogan \u2014 a popular blue-state GOP governor who has said he\u2019s open to challenging Trump for the nomination in 2024 \u2014 is positioning himself as a staunch critic of the former president and a dissenting voice in a Trump-dominated Republican Party. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. We\u2019ve got the former president going after all these really good elected Republicans, and so I\u2019m trying to support people who I think deserve to be in office,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to help people wherever we can, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019re going to be doing a lot more of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hogan, who briefly flirted with waging a long-shot primary challenge to Trump in 2020, has begun building out a national political infrastructure<\/a>. Last year, his supporters launched An America United, a nonprofit group that\u2019s been promoting the governor as a bipartisan problem solver. Hogan, who cannot run for another term as governor next year, has also begun meeting with donors and speaking at national GOP events. In May, he is slated to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute’s \u201cTime for Choosing Speaker Series\u201d about the future of the Republican Party, a forum that has drawn an array of would-be 2024 contenders. <\/p>\n His focus has also turned to helping the Republicans who\u2019ve taken on the former president. Hogan\u2019s nonprofit has begun running digital advertisements bolstering Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), a six-term congresswoman who is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Army veteran Joe Kent. The challenger has won financial support from, among others, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, a prominent conservative donor who met with Trump multiple times last year.<\/p>\n The list of Trump critics Hogan is looking at supporting also includes New York Rep. John Katko, another one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump, in response, has called the congressman \u2014 who has long represented one of the bluest seats held by a House Republican \u2014 \u201cbad news\u201d and offered to campaign against him<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe folks that wouldn\u2019t overturn the election, or buy into the big lie, they\u2019re being attacked. It\u2019s the reason I want to stand up and help them, but it\u2019s a real problem for the party,\u201d said Hogan, who called on Trump to resign following the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.<\/p>\n The governor is giving voice to concerns within the GOP that Trump\u2019s revenge campaign against Republicans he has branded as his enemies could undercut the party by pushing candidates through primaries who won\u2019t be viable in the general election. In Georgia, Hogan contended that by attacking Kemp and endorsing a primary challenger, Trump is \u201cpotentially going to elect [Democratic candidate] Stacey Abrams as governor.\u201d<\/p>\n Hogan also argued that Trump\u2019s decision to endorse a primary opponent to Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a fellow blue-state Republican governor, contributed to Baker\u2019s decision to forgo reelection. (Baker, a popular figure in Massachusetts whose retirement could well hand the governor\u2019s mansion to Democrats in November, has insisted he wasn\u2019t \u201cshaken\u201d<\/a> by Trump\u2019s involvement in the race.)<\/p>\n The governor also contended that Trump\u2019s attacks on Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey had undermined the GOP\u2019s prospects of recruiting Ducey into the Senate race against Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly, potentially robbing the party of a top-tier candidate in a contest that could determine control of the chamber.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the biggest threat to Republican success next year \u2026 is Trump, and Trump cancel culture, what he\u2019s trying to do to screw up these races. And asking people to swear blind allegiance to Trump is going to cause us to lose some races,\u201d Hogan argued.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s having a terrible impact, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m trying to do my part to contain some of the damage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n In Maryland, the race to succeed Hogan is also playing host to a proxy battle between the governor and the former president. While Hogan has thrown his support to former state commerce secretary Kelly Schulz, Trump is backing Dan Cox, a state delegate who has railed against mask mandates. In his statement endorsing Cox, Trump called Hogan a \u201cRINO\u201d \u2014 an acronym for Republican In Name Only \u2014 \u201cwho has been terrible for our Country and is against the America First Movement.\u201d <\/p>\n Hogan fired back, saying he\u2019d \u201cprefer endorsements from people who didn\u2019t lose Maryland by 33 points,\u201d referring to Trump\u2019s margin of defeat in the state.<\/p>\n A Hogan 2024 bid would be decidedly uphill given Trump\u2019s ongoing, vise-like hold over the GOP. But the governor has argued there is an opening in the party for a Trump critic. Other than Hogan, only a few prospective Republican hopefuls have been willing to take on the former president. The roster includes Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and recently, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who, like Hogan, won two terms in a liberal state.<\/p>\n Hogan said he was particularly focused on helping his fellow Republican governors, two of whom \u2014 Kemp and Idaho Gov. Brad Little \u2014 the former president is looking to defeat. It\u2019s possible the list will grow: Trump has met with Alabama Republican Lynda Blanchard, who is waging a primary challenge to Gov. Kay Ivey, though he has not yet endorsed her.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m willing to help any of them,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cI\u2019m going to try to do whatever I can, whatever they ask me to.\u201d<\/p>\n