“Larry Hogan, no doubt, would be a vote for Mitch McConnell”

Maryland leaders held a roundtable Thursday in Baltimore on the stakes of Republican Larry Hogan – who was personally recruited by Mitch McConnell and  promises to caucus with the GOP – delivering Republicans control of the Senate. 

WATCH YESTERDAY’S ROUNDTABLE HERE

“Republicans understand the path to a GOP Senate Majority runs through Maryland. They know Hogan could be the 51st seat Republicans need to push forward an agenda that’s wildly out of step with Marylanders,” said Maryland Democratic Party Executive Director Karen Darkes. “Their agenda includes banning abortion nationwide, slashing Medicare and Social Security, making it harder to vote, crushing organized labor, caving to the gun lobby, cutting environmental protections, packing our courts with extreme judges and justices, and more.”

“Republicans have already made it really clear that their plan moving forward is to ban abortion nationwide, and that obviously includes Maryland. Hogan has told us that he’s caucusing with Republicans. He’s the 51st vote that would enable them to get power, to run committees, to pass legislation,” said abortion rights advocate Dr. Jessica Bauer. “If Trump is elected as President, he’d help install anti-abortion judges across the country. If Kamala Harris is elected, he can block her nominees and he can help prevent pro-abortion and reproductive rights judges from being put into place.”

“Larry Hogan and Mitch McConnell, the gruesome twosome, are going to eviscerate Social Security. They’re going to eviscerate Medicare. They’re going to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, where 50 million Americans have come through there and gotten their primary source of insurance,” said President of AFSCME Maryland Council 3 Patrick Moran. “He is going to gut labor rights and health and safety protections on the job. Mitch McConnell and Larry Hogan working together is bad for Maryland. It’s bad for America, and it’s bad for all workers in this country.”

“In our democracy, the power should belong with the people, and not just the folks who can write the biggest checks. When you look at this race, it’s no wonder that they’re pouring in tens of millions of dollars to get behind Larry Hogan, and it’s not because they like him or they’re his friend,” said President of End Citizens United Tiffany Muller. “No, they expect a return on that investment.”

“The number one killer of children is gun violence right now, and so that’s the epidemic for us. As a person who cares about the community and cares about our children and keeping schools safe, that’s one of the reasons I wouldn’t vote for Larry Hogan,” said gun violence prevention advocate Cindy Camp. “He will align himself with the GOP, even though he says he won’t. I do not trust him, and so he will not be getting my vote.”

“We’ve made tremendous progress in the last two years under Democratic control of the Senate and under President Biden and Vice President Harris, and we need to continue that,” said Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defence Council Action Fund Kevin Curtis. “Larry Hogan, no doubt, would be a vote for Mitch McConnell and Mitch McConnell’s successor in the Senate and will return the Senate to control by the oil industry.”

“Larry Hogan will not be a climate or environmental champion in the Senate. If he’s elected, he will hand the U.S. Senate over to extreme MAGA Republicans who are determined to cater to Big Oil,” said League of Conservation Voters Congressional Champions Campaign Director Davis Bates. “We know who writes their checks. We know who gives them their marching orders on legislation. And despite all of his claims of being independent, he will caucus with the Republicans in the Senate and be an important vote for them and for their extreme agenda.”