Maryland Senate Republican nominee Larry Hogan is using past praise from Democrats to bolster his campaign, as the Left tries to paint the centrist GOP candidate as a “MAGA” stooge.
In a new ad released Thursday dubbed “Democrats for Hogan,” the former two-term governor’s campaign features accolades from high-profile Democrats — including his Democratic opponent, Angela Alsobrooks — to reject claims that electing him would empower Trump-aligned Republicans.
“We have had a really wonderful working relationship with the governor in his administration. I have to tell you that,” Alsobrooks, the executive of Prince George’s County, says in a clip from a prior media appearance. “He really wants to work with Prince George’s. He’s from there.”
The ad, similar to Hogan’s direct messaging to voters, touts him as a “true independent and bipartisan leader.”
“Gov. Hogan put the country over party,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) says in a clip.
The public tune toward Hogan from such Democrats has since changed, as they fight to keep the Senate majority that would almost certainly be lost with a Hogan victory.
“Marylanders understand that a vote for Larry Hogan is a vote to put MAGA Republicans in charge of the Senate,” Van Hollen told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
In response to being included in the Hogan ad, Van Hollen told the Washington Examiner in a statement that the campaign must’ve “really had to dig for that one” because it’s from a 2016 debate.
“Their campaign can cherry-pick quotes, but it doesn’t change the fact that Angela Alsobrooks is the only candidate who will truly stand up for Maryland values at the federal level, and handing control of the Senate to the MAGA majority isn’t what Marylanders want,” Van Hollen said.
After pulling off an upset on Tuesday in the Democratic primary against Rep. David Trone (D-MD), Alsobrooks blasted Hogan and “his BFF Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump’s Republican Party.”
The Alsobrooks campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the Hogan ad.
Despite the Republican governing a deep-blue state and working for nearly a decade to forge political relationships across party lines, Democrats have sought to don the anti-Trump Senate candidate in a MAGA cloak.
“To my Democratic and independent friends, you know me, and you know my proven track record of reaching across the aisle to find common ground for the common good,” Hogan told supporters Tuesday night after clinching the GOP primary. “You know that I’m not going to be just one more Capitol Hill Republican.”
The campaign ad also features past praise from President Joe Biden, Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), former President Bill Clinton, and Trone.
“As I listen to the governor of Maryland today on the television,” Biden says in a featured clip, “he’s doing a heck of a job.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
A clip of Trone commended Hogan as having a “very friendly demeanor” and a businessman who “wants to work across the aisle, and that resonates.”
“I’ve known him for years, and I like him,” Clinton is shown saying in the ad.
