Boyd Rutherford told a radio station the Republican governor could run as independent. But a Hogan representative said he has no plans to leave the party.
“We could see an independent candidate, possibly, with initials L.H. for president in a couple years,” Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford told WBAL radio Wednesday morning. “If that happens, I’d be wholeheartedly supportive.”
But David Weinman, a spokesman for Hogan’s political organization, An America United, said the governor has no plans to leave the Republican Party, adding, “The lieutenant governor speaks his mind."who has been weighing a presidential bid — is in the Midwest, stumping for like-minded Republican candidates. Rutherford said he believes most Americans are center-right or center-left, leaving the 2024 presidential field ripe for an independent who can appeal to the middle.
“I can’t speak for the governor on that, but it has crossed my mind,” Rutherford said of one day leaving the party. An America United released a national crime plan Wednesday that Hogan will discuss while he is in Nebraska and Iowa.He has talked about expanding the appeal of the Republican Party and the need to move away from Trump, whom he has long criticized. The governor said he will make a decision about the presidency sometime after his second term ends in January.
Hogan’s protégé, former Maryland labor secretary Kelly M. Schulz, lost July’s Republican gubernatorial primary to Trump-aligned Del. Daniel L. Cox , which some viewed as a repudiation of Hogan’s brand of pragmatic conservatism. The governor has been undeterred, saying he will “continue fighting" for a different sort of Republican Party.