Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, told the Washington Post recently that he wrote in former President Ronald Reagan’s name for president on his 2020 ballot. He joins a growing list of moderate Republicans in blue states who are not voting for President Donald Trump.
“I know it’s simply symbolic. It’s not going to change the outcome in my state,” Hogan told the Post. “But I thought it was important to just cast a vote that showed the kind of person I’d like to see in office.”
Hogan, a moderate Republican who is rumored to be considering a run for the White House in 2024, called Reagan his political hero. Reagan died in 2004.
Hogan had also refused to vote for Trump in 2016 as well. The governor cast a write-in vote for his dad, former congressman Lawrence Hogan Sr.
Trump and Hogan clashed recently over the coronavirus pandemic. Hogan wrote a scathing op-ed in the Washington Post this summer accusing the administration of bungling its response.
Hogan wrote that Trump “downplayed the outbreak’s severity and as the White House failed to issue public warnings, draw up a 50-state strategy, or dispatch medical gear or lifesaving ventilators from the national stockpile to American hospitals.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany dismissed Hogan’s accusations, however.
“It’s really striking, his comments, especially when you compare them to his past comments,” McEnany said. “This is revisionist history by Gov. Hogan and it stands in stark contrast to what he said on March 19 where he praised the great communication that the President has had with governors.”
Larry Hogan Joins Growing List of Dissatisfied Republicans
The New York Times reported that there is an extensive and growing list of prominent Republicans who say they will not vote for Trump.
That list includes Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott; and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Sen. John McCain’s wife Cindy McCain, and former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell who have both campaigned for Joe Biden.
Though these are likely outliers. A recent Ipsos/Reuters poll found that 86 percent of Republicans plan to cast their ballot for Donald Trump. The poll also found that 92 percent of Democrats planned to vote for Biden.
