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Donald Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Larry Hogan has revealed his shock decision over who he plans to vote for this November – and it turns out he won’t be returning the favor to the former president.
Speaking on CBS News Face the Nation on Sunday, the former Maryland governor said that neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris has earned his support in the presidential election.
“Neither one of the two candidates has earned my vote, and the voters in the country are going to be able to make that decision,” he said.
Hogan, who was endorsed by Trump in June as he goes head-to-head with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks for Maryland’s open US Senate seat, pointed out that he also shunned Trump in the last two elections.
“I didn’t vote for him in 2016 or 2020 and I’ve made that pretty clear,” he said. “I’m willing to put country over party, and I’m hoping that the voters will be willing to do the same thing.”
Hogan said that he has a “completely separate identity” to Trump as he vowed to continue to “stand up to” him – regardless of the fact they share the same party.
“I stand up to him, probably more than just about anyone, and I’ll continue to,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think he will campaign alongside the former president.
Hogan also condemned Trump’s comments at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday where he called Harris “mentally disabled” and “mentally impaired,” branding it “insulting” to both the vice president and those who do have disabilities.
“I’ve already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity and now he’s questioning her mental competence and I think that’s insulting not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities and I’ve said for years that Trump’s divisive rhetoric is something that we could do without,” he said.
“I think he’s his own worst enemy,” he continued.
But, despite his criticism of Trump, Hogan revealed he also won’t be backing Harris, saying that both sides of the political aisle have been engaging in “toxic and divisive politics” of late.
“I’m very concerned and I believe both parties are way off track from what their kind of base core values used to be,” he added.
Hogan is far from the only prominent Republican to reveal they won’t be voting for Trump come November.
Former vice president Dick Cheney, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, former rep Adam Kinzinger and a growing list of former Trump administration officials have publicly thrown their support behind Harris.
Earlier this month, a group of more than 100 prominent former officials who served in Republican administrations endorsed Harris and warned that Trump is “unfit to serve again” in a letter obtained by The New York Times.
This growing split in the Republican party comes as Harris is currently leading Trump in the polls by 2.9 points, according to the latest average of national polls.
