Larry Hogan

Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr. (born May 25, 1956) is an American politician and cancer survivor. A member of the Republican Party, he has served as the 62nd Governor of Maryland since 2015 and chair of the National Governors Association since July 2019.

Hogan ran unsuccessfully in campaigns for Maryland's 5th congressional district in 1981 and 1992, the latter of which was incumbent Steny Hoyer's closest race. He was the Secretary of Appointments under Governor Bob Ehrlich from 2003 to 2007. Hogan founded the Change Maryland organization in 2011, which he used to promote his own 2014 gubernatorial campaign. Hogan has enjoyed high approval ratings during his time as governor, and he has been rated as one of the most popular governors in the United States.

Hogan was born in 1956 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Landover, Maryland, attending Saint Ambrose Catholic School and DeMatha Catholic High School. He moved to Florida with his mother after his parents divorced in 1972 and graduated from Father Lopez Catholic High School in 1974. Hogan is the son of Nora (Maguire) and Lawrence Hogan Sr., who served as a U.S. Congressman from Maryland's 5th Congressional District from 1969 to 1975 and as Prince George's County Executive from 1978 to 1982. Hogan Sr. was famous for being the first Republican member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to call for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. His parents were both of Irish descent.

Hogan attended Florida State University from 1974 to 1978 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and political science. While in college, Hogan worked in the Florida State Legislature and upon graduation, worked on Capitol Hill. Hogan helped his father run a successful campaign in 1978 for Prince George's County Executive and later worked for his father as a low-paid 'intergovernmental liaison'.

In 1985, Hogan founded Hogan Companies, which is engaged in brokerage, consulting, investment and development of land, commercial and residential properties. He spent the next 18 years in the private sector.

As the son of a U.S. Congressman, Hogan was exposed to politics at a young age and worked in many aspects of politics including political campaigns and citizen referendums.

In 1981, at the age of 24, Hogan first ran for office in the special election to fill the vacancy in Maryland's 5th congressional district left by Gladys Noon Spellman. Spellman had succeeded Hogan's father in the congressional seat. Hogan finished 2nd out of 12 candidates in the Republican primary with 22.38% of the votes, behind Bowie Mayor Audrey Scott who received 63.26%.

In 1992, Hogan was the Republican nominee for Maryland's 5th congressional district, running against Democratic incumbent Steny Hoyer. Hoyer outspent Hogan by a 6-to-1 margin. Despite that financial advantage, the race was the closest in Hoyer's tenure. Hogan won four of the district's five counties and took 44% of the vote to Hoyer's 53%, with William Johnston (Independent) at 3%. No other challenger has come as close to unseating Hoyer since.

Hogan took a four-year leave of absence from his business to serve as Maryland's Secretary of Appointments in the administration of Bob Ehrlich from 2003 to 2007. In this capacity, Hogan appointed over 7,000 individuals to positions in the Maryland government.

In 2011, Hogan founded Change Maryland, a nonprofit anti-tax advocacy organization that was used to criticize the administration of Governor Martin O'Malley. The organization promoted Hogan's gubernatorial run, and his campaign eventually purchased the organization's assets. The Maryland Democratic Party alleged that Hogan had improperly received campaign benefits from the nonprofit, and the State Board of Elections dismissed two of the complaints but found Hogan's campaign had not properly disclosed the value of a poll done by the nonprofit before purchasing its assets.

Hogan announced his campaign for Governor of Maryland on January 21, 2014. On January 29, 2014, Hogan announced his running mate, former Maryland Secretary of General Services Boyd Rutherford. On June 24, 2014, Hogan and Rutherford won the Republican primary, receiving 43% of the vote. They defeated Anthony G. Brown, the Democratic nominee and incumbent Lieutenant Governor, in an election on November 4, 2014. He is the first governor to be elected from Anne Arundel County, Maryland in over 100 years.

In the 2018 gubernatorial election, Hogan ran against Democratic nominee Ben Jealous, a former NAACP president. Hogan enjoyed significant polling and fundraising leads over Jealous throughout the campaign. Hogan ultimately defeated Jealous, 55% to 43%, becoming only the second Republican governor in Maryland history to be reelected, and the first since Theodore McKeldin in 1954. Hogan won the most votes of any governor in Maryland history.

Governor of Maryland

Media outlets have described Hogan as a moderate Republican and a "pragmatist", and in 2018 he polled well among Maryland Democrats, according to The Baltimore Sun. The Washington Post's editorial board wrote in 2015 that he was "true to his promise to govern from the center in the first legislative session of his term." On the Issues, a non-profit and non-partisan organization which tracks politicians' positions, considers Hogan to be a centrist.

In July 2018, Hogan was elected vice chairman of the National Governors Association (NGA), and served in that capacity from 2018 to 2019. In July 2019, he was elected president of the NGA, and served in that capacity from 2019 to 2020.

Days after announcing he would not run for president in 2020, the possibility of which he had raised months earlier, Hogan gave a "combative" speech in June 2019. He addressed a right-wing business group, the Maryland Free Enterprise Foundation, "skewering Democrats who control the state legislature and vowing to spend the remainder of his term in 'battle' with them."

Hogan has enjoyed very high approval ratings. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll in April 2016 showed Hogan with a 66% approval rating. Hogan's numbers were attributed to the improving economy in the state and Hogan's decision to govern "focusing on taxes and other pocketbook issues while avoiding polarizing social topics such as abortion or religious-objection laws." By November 2017, Hogan had one of the highest approval ratings of any governor in the country. The independent Gonzales poll in January 2020 showed Hogan with a 75% approval rating from Maryland voters, including 77% from Republicans, 73% from Democrats and 78% from Independents; 70% from African-Americans, 75% from men, and 75% from women. Pollster Patrick Gonzales said in 2020: "In our 35 years of polling the voters of Maryland, we have never found a pol who was supported by 73% of Democrats, 77% of Republicans, and 78% of independents. These numbers indicate a versatile, Protean-like appeal we have not witnessed in a politician before ... anywhere." The quarterly Morning Consult polls, starting in late 2015 and continuing into 2020, consistently place Hogan as the second-most popular governor in the nation.

Education

In 2013, a bi-partisan commission studied whether to move the start of the school year to after Labor Day and voted 12–3 to recommend such a measure to then Governor Martin O'Malley. In August 2016, Hogan issued an executive order to set the public schools start date after the Labor Day holiday. The measure was opposed by the state teachers' union, the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA).

In early 2017, Hogan proposed a budget that cut funding for community revitalization programs, extended library hours, and public schools in Baltimore City. Under the proposed budget, Baltimore City Public Schools would receive $42 million less than the prior year, further exacerbating the current $129 million budget gap. In February 2017, in response to the funding crisis, citizens rallied in Annapolis. Hogan has criticized the school system for the mismanagement of funds, and has deemed the system's finances an "absolute disaster". In January 2019, Hogan released a budget that focused mostly on education funding, above what current state formulas require.

In May 2018, Hogan signed a bill appropriating $15 million in need-based scholarships for low- and middle-income students, allowing them to attend community college tuition-free, and also appropriating an additional $2 million over a five-year period for older "near-completer" college students who are close to finishing degrees at community colleges or four-year colleges.

Environment

In February 2015, Hogan announced proposed regulatory changes on phosphorus nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The water was being polluted as a result of agricultural runoff of chicken manure, which is used as a fertilizer by farmers and is cheap and plentiful in Maryland. Hogan proposed extending the time for about 80% of farmers to fully comply with regulations to 2022, while at the same time imposing a ban on additional phosphorus use by the largest farmers, and providing for indefinite delays if there was no other use for the manure. In March 2015, Hogan reached a compromise with Democrats in the General Assembly under which a hard date of 2022 was established, subject to a delay only to 2024 if no alternative uses for the manure can be found. The compromise "received tentative praise from both the agricultural community and environmentalists."

In 2016, Hogan signed legislation to reauthorize greenhouse gas reduction targets and mandate a 40% reduction in statewide carbon pollution by 2030. In 2017, however, Hogan vetoed legislation that had been passed by the Maryland General Assembly to increase the use of renewable energy by setting a renewable portfolio standard to require that 25% of the state's electricity come from renewable sources (such as solar, wind, and hydroelectricity) by 2020. Hogan and the Maryland Republican Party led an unsuccessful campaign to sustain the veto, but the Democratic-controlled General Assembly overrode the veto in a party-line vote.

In April 2017, Hogan signed a law banning hydraulic fracturing in Maryland. However, he did support pipelines in Maryland that transport natural gas obtained by hydraulic fracturing in other states. In June 2017, Hogan maintained support for the Paris Agreement and opposed the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. In January 2018, Hogan said Maryland would join the United States Climate Alliance formed by California, New York, and Washington.

Immigration

Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, Hogan asked that the federal government "cease any additional settlement programs of Syrian refugees in Maryland until the U.S. government can provide appropriate assurances that refugees from Syria pose no threat to public safety." He opposed President Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He recalled Maryland National Guard forces from the U.S.-Mexico border to protest the Trump administration's family separation policy.

Criminal justice

The April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American resident of Baltimore, Maryland, led to the 2015 Baltimore protests. To address the growing unrest, Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the Maryland National Guard. Major General Linda L. Singh of the Maryland National Guard commented that there would be a "massive number" of soldiers in Maryland on the night of April 27, and that up to 5,000 soldiers were eventually deployed. Maryland State Police activated 500 officers for duty in Baltimore, and requested additional state police officers from other states.

In July 2015, Hogan announced the closure of the decrepit Baltimore City Detention Center, which had a long record of poor conditions and dysfunction. Hogan did not notify Baltimore City mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake or leaders of the state general assembly about the plan. Hogan's move was supported by civil liberties and reform groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Justice Center, and Justice Policy Institute. The last prisoners were moved out of the jail in late August 2015.

In 2016, Hogan re-opened the Maryland State Police Barrack in Annapolis, which had previously been closed in 2008 as a cost-savings measure.

In September 2019, Hogan directed Attorney General Brian Frosh to prosecute more violent crime cases in Baltimore City. He said that the city's justice system was too lenient, citing an example of someone who had a pending murder charge but was set free. City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby disputed his characterization of the crime fight in the city. Hogan authorized state police helicopters to fly over Baltimore City and ordered an increase in the enforcement of outstanding warrants.

Hogan vetoed legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2015 to restore the voting rights of persons convicted of felonies following their completion of prison sentences. The General Assembly overrode the veto. The law applies to about 44,000 former prisoners.

Sick-leave legislation

In December 2016, Hogan proposed state legislation to require companies with 50 or more employees to provide 5 days per year of paid sick leave. Hogan's bill was less expansive than legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Maryland House of Delegates; it also would have preempted local legislation that was more generous to employees, such as mandated paid sick leave required by Montgomery County, Maryland. In the legislature, Hogan's proposal failed to advance out of committee, and the House of Delegates passed more expansive legislation that requires companies with 15 employees or more to provide 7 paid sick-leave days a year, requires companies with fewer than 15 employees to provide 5 days of unpaid sick leave, and affords benefits for part-time employees. Hogan vetoed the more generous sick leave bill, but his veto was overridden.

Social issues

Hogan personally opposes abortion but has said "he will not try to change Maryland's laws protecting women's rights to the procedure nor to limit access to contraception." Although he made some pro-life comments in the early 1980s, he said in the 1990s that abortion should remain legal. In 2016, Hogan signed a law making birth control cheaper. In 2017, the legislature passed a bill to reimburse Planned Parenthood in the event that the federal government withdrew funding, and Hogan allowed the bill to become a law without his signature. He characterized as unnecessary a 2018 initiative put forward by Democratic state lawmakers to protect abortion in the Maryland constitution but declined to oppose it and added that he supported allowing Marylanders to vote on it, which would automatically happen if the General Assembly were to approve it. "Our laws in Maryland already guarantee a woman's right to choose," he said. "We have some very strong laws and any change in the Supreme Court would not affect Maryland, so I don't think that a constitutional amendment is required, but if that's what they want to do, I'm all for that. Let the voters decide."

NARAL Pro-Choice America, a political action committee which supports legal abortion, rated Hogan as "mixed-choice" in February 2018.

In 2014, Hogan opposed a transgender rights law signed by Governor O'Malley. As a gubernatorial candidate, he said that he was "originally for civil unions" but that he has evolved to support the decision to legalize same-sex marriage. In 2015, Hogan expanded an executive order to include protections for gender identity among "executive branch employees." He also decided not to veto a 2015 bill that allowed transgender Marylanders to change the gender listed on their birth certificates and the bill became law without his signature.

In 2016, Hogan vetoed legislation to decriminalize possession of marijuana paraphernalia in Maryland, making it a civil infraction rather than a crime. The Democratic-controlled General Assembly overrode the veto.

In May 2018, Hogan signed legislation into law making Maryland the 11th state to ban conversion therapy for minors.

Transportation

In June 2015, Hogan canceled the federally funded Baltimore Red Line project, instead choosing to reallocate money to road construction across Maryland, fulfilling a campaign promise to voters who elected him in 2014. Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn described the Red Line proposal as "fatally flawed" and argued that the light rail line would not connect with other public transportation hubs in Baltimore and would require the construction of a $1 billion tunnel through the heart of the city. However, plans detailed the Red Line would connect to the MARC Train at the West Baltimore station and planned Bayview station, the Baltimore Metro Subway at Charles Center station via a pedestrian tunnel, and with the Baltimore Light Rail at the University Center/Baltimore Street station at street level. The cancellation of the project was criticized by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Hogan conditionally approved funding for the Purple Line in Maryland's Washington, D.C. suburbs, subject to increased contributions from Montgomery County and Prince George's County. This 2017 decision closed down popular bike paths in Montgomery County for what the state Department of Transportation estimates will be five years (ending in 2022), triggering residents' anger and protests.

In 2016, the Maryland General Assembly introduced HB 1013, the Maryland Open Transportation Investment Decision Act of 2016, which aimed to establish statewide transportation goals through a transparent scoring process by the Maryland Department of Transportation. Inspired by Hogan's decision to cancel the Baltimore Red Line and shift funding to rural areas of the state, the legislation would require the Transportation Department to develop a project-based scoring system and promulgate regulations for the public. In April 2016, Hogan vetoed the bill, saying that it was politically motivated and would increase the cancellation risk for major transportation projects throughout the state. Hogan said that the bill would force him to cancel 66 transportation projects and relabeled it the "Road Kill Bill". The General Assembly overrode Hogan's veto on April 8, 2016. Hogan deemed repealing the legislation to be his top priority, but gridlock and tension between the governor and the legislature prevented an alternative solution from being reached. In May 2019, The Baltimore Sun reported that transit advocates had accused the Hogan administration of using a biased scoring process in which administration-supported projects (such as the Beltway expansion plan) receive high scores and disfavored (such as the Baltimore Red Line) receive low ones. One critic cited in the piece noted, "The General Assembly passed this law in an attempt to be more open and transparent...MDOT has complied with the law to the minimum extent possible...Projects they want to fund get perfect scores and projects they don't want to fund get low scores. It doesn't pass the smell test that they're faithfully executing this law."

During his second term in office, Hogan made efforts to expand the Maryland sections of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) and Interstate 270 by proposing a plan to add up to two high-occupancy toll lanes (referred to critically as "Lexus lanes") on each highway in each direction, arguing that the project would reduce traffic congestion. The proposal was highly controversial, and was opposed by a number of planners and officials, including the Prince George's County Council, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, and by local citizens' organizations such as Citizens Against Beltway Expansion. The only poll on the subject of the Beltway expansion plan showed that in principle, 61% support the toll road; however, 73% of people were very or somewhat concerned about the loss of homes, 69% of people very or somewhat concerned that the road would be too expensive to use, and 68% of people were very or somewhat concerned that the new highway would not reduce congestion. The cost of the plan also has risen from $9 billion to $11 billion since it was first made public, an amount that the Hogan administration says will be paid for entirely by private contractors.

On May 8, 2019, the Prince George's County Council voted unanimously for a proposal requiring Hogan to undertake further environmental reviews before proceeding with the plan. On June 5, the State Board of Public Works (composed of Hogan, State Comptroller Peter Franchot, and State Treasurer Nancy Kopp) voted to approve the proposal. Hogan and Franchot voted in favor of the proposal, while Kopp opposed it.

Gun control

In October 2018, a law tightening gun control regulations that was signed by Hogan went into effect. The law banned bump stocks and banned gun ownership by convicted domestic abusers. Hogan was endorsed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 2014, but in July 2018, Hogan said he would decline an endorsement and funds from the NRA if they were offered. In September 2018, the NRA downgraded its rating of Hogan to "C" and declined to endorse him.

On May 24, 2019, Hogan vetoed a bill to replace the state Handgun Permit Review Board with a panel of judges. The Handgun Review Board hears appeals from Marylanders whose applications for handgun permits were denied by the Maryland State Police. Critics accused it of being too lenient in granting appeals. Hogan condemned the bill as a "solution in search of a problem."

Facebook page controversies

Between taking office and February 2017, Hogan's Facebook page blocked over 450 people. One spokesman said about half had used "hateful or racist" language, while the rest were part of a "coordinated attack". Affected Marylanders said they had reached out to the governor via Facebook following the 2015 Baltimore protests as well as Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769 in January 2017, which banned travelers from 7 predominantly Muslim countries.

In March 2017, it was discovered that Hogan staffers altered headlines of The Baltimore Sun and DelmarvaNow articles posted in the governor's Facebook page to falsely imply General Assembly support for the Governor's so-called "Road Kill Bill"; after the Sun contacted the governor's office about the doctored headlines, the governor's office rectified the problem.

Presidential politics

On July 15, 2015, Hogan endorsed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in his campaign for the Republican nomination for the presidency. In June 2016, Hogan stated that he had no plans to support Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. Hogan later attended Trump's inauguration. During Trump's administration, Hogan has mixed strong criticism for him (even going so far as to suggest the Republican Party should reorient away from the President) with praise in economic and public health matters.

During his January 2019 inaugural address, Hogan hinted he was considering launching a Republican primary challenge against President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. In March 2019, Hogan said he was listening to many who were encouraging him to challenge Trump and would not rule it out. In an April 2019 event in New Hampshire, Hogan said he intended to give "serious consideration" to a primary challenge to Trump. Polls conducted in April and May 2019 suggested Hogan would receive the votes of 24% of Republican voters against 68% for Trump in the Maryland Republican primary. In June 2019, Hogan announced that he would not challenge Trump in the 2020 Republican primaries in order to focus on governing Maryland and chairing the National Governors Association. Shortly afterward, Hogan commented that he had no interest in running for the U.S. Senate in 2022, but left open the possibility of running for president in 2024. He also launched An America United, a national advocacy group that is also intended to raise Hogan's profile and give him a voice on the national level.

In October 2019, Hogan announced his support for the U.S. House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry against Trump. In February 2020, following Trump's impeachment by the Democratic-led House and subsequent acquittal by the Republican-controlled Senate, Hogan criticized Congress, saying that House Democrats "had already decided before the hearings that the president should be impeached" and that Senate Republicans were going to acquit Trump "no matter what the facts were".

Hogan resides in Government House in Annapolis with his wife, Yumi Hogan, a Korean-American artist and adjunct instructor at Maryland Institute College of Art. The couple met in 2001 and married in 2004. Hogan is the stepfather of Yumi's three adult daughters from her first marriage: Kim Velez, Jaymi Sterling, and Julie Kim. Hogan's brother, Patrick N. Hogan, represented a district in Frederick County, Maryland in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2003 to 2007 and 2011 to 2015.

In June 2015, Hogan announced that he had been diagnosed with stage three non-Hodgkin lymphoma and was undergoing treatment. He completed 18 weeks of intensive chemotherapy and announced in November 2015 that the cancer was in remission. He underwent his last chemotherapy treatment in October 2016 and was deemed to be cancer-free.