Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Decries “Toxic Politics” in Final State of the State Address

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:46 pm

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) decried “toxic politics” in his final State of the State address, noting that the United States is “bitterly divided” while criticizing a new congressional map that offers Democrats significant advantages for Maryland’s for its 188 General Assembly seats, suggesting that they ultimately undermine democracy.

“We need to restore trust and fairness to our political system by allowing voters to pick their elected representatives, rather than having politicians pick their voters,” Hogan said during his address. “Gerrymandering is partisanship at its worst. It’s a cancer on our democracy, and Maryland has the unfortunate distinction of having the worst, most gerrymandered districts in America.”

Hogan made headlines earlier this week after he said that “the stakes are too high” for another four years of former President Donald Trump in office should he win reelection in 2024.

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“With America on the wrong path, the stakes are too high to double down on failure,” Hogan said in a Fox News interview, adding: “My friend Governor Hutchinson is exactly right.”

Hogan referred to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R), who stressed that he does not believe the 2020 general election was stolen despite Trump’s claims, which have been debunked numerous times.

“First of all, I don’t believe the election was stolen, and I respect the results,” Hutchinson said. “They were challenged as need be, and the result is the fact that President Biden is in office.”

Hogan has openly criticized Trump on numerous occasions and lately has noted that Trump is antagonizing Republicans who have not fallen in line with his falsehoods about the election.

“It’s crazy. We’ve got the former president going after all these really good elected Republicans, and so I’m trying to support people who I think deserve to be in office,” Hogan said last month. “We’re trying to help people wherever we can, and I’m sure we’re going to be doing a lot more of it.”

In his State of the State address, Hogan found time to evoke the January 6 insurrection, the day a mob of Trump’s supporters, spurred by his lies about the integrity of the 2020 general election, attacked the United States Capitol in a failed bid to halt the electoral certification of then-candidate Joe Biden’s win.

“I’m speaking to you tonight from the Old Senate Chamber of our historic State House in Annapolis,” Hogan said. “It was in this very chamber that General George Washington relinquished his command of the Continental Forces, laying the foundation for a new republic with the first peaceful transition of power in our history.”

Hogan has gone on record saying that nominating Trump in 2024, after all the controversy surrounding the insurrection, would be “bad for the Republican Party and the country at large.

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.