STEVENSVILLE, Maryland — Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan invoked outgoing centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) when asked about legislating in the current divided Senate.
Hogan, a Republican, is well-known for working across the aisle with Democrats and gained popularity for doing so in the blue state, which features a Democratic majority in the legislature.
Manchin, who recently switched his party affiliation to independent after being a lifelong Democrat, has often been the deciding vote on key matters and a bridge-builder legislatively, a role that Hogan might end up playing if he wins in November.
The Washington Examiner interviewed the 68-year-old former governor on the sidelines of a Wednesday campaign event in Stevensville, Maryland. Hogan, who is vying against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, said former President George W. Bush, in encouraging him to run, said he thought Hogan might be a senator along the lines of Manchin.
Hogan pointed out that he previously served as the national co-chairman for third-party movement No Labels, which Manchin was rumored to be a top prospect for, and “worked very closely” with him.
No Labels had floated the idea of a unity ticket with both a Republican and Democrat on the ballot, given voters’ displeasure with a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Hogan said he thinks his track record working across the aisle is why people such as Bush have drawn parallels between him and the outgoing West Virginia senator.
“So I mean, I think because it was the ability to stand up to the party and just try to come up and make decisions about what you think is right,” Hogan explained. “And be in the middle of all those transactions, which is what I’m used to doing.”
In looking ahead to the new Congress, Hogan said he is hoping to be a chairman of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group on Capitol Hill made up of even numbers of Republicans and Democrats that aims to foster bipartisanship and solutions to major policy matters. The group is chaired by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).
One problem that Hogan hopes to help tackle is the government’s precarious fiscal footing.
The Congressional Budget Office recently examined the federal debt, which is set to grow over the next decade. Public debt is predicted to rise from 99% of GDP this year to 122% of GDP by 2034.
The federal budget deficit will be nearly $2 trillion in fiscal 2024, according to the CBO. The Medicare trust fund will be exhausted in 2036, and the combined Social Security trust fund will become exhausted in 2035, the programs’ trustees projected last month.
Hogan said Republicans and Democrats need to stop “the name-calling and the finger-pointing” and reach a bipartisan solution.
“Right now, both parties have been guilty of ignoring the problem and kicking the can down the road,” Hogan said. “And Republicans and Democrats sort of talk about it and usually try to blame the other side, but nobody ever takes any action.”
Another priority for Hogan is regulatory reform. He said that as governor, he was able to usher in regulatory reform and ended up cutting “13,000 job-killing regulations.”
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Hogan also said he thinks there should be more congressional oversight of federal agencies. Federal agencies essentially have the power to remake laws through the regulatory process, which Republicans see as an abdication of the Constitution’s mandate that legislative powers be vested in Congress.
Hogan will face Alsobrooks, who serves as the executive of Maryland’s Prince George’s County, in November. The contest will be a closely watched matchup, given Democrats’ tenuous control of the Senate and Hogan’s popularity in blue Maryland.
