Angela Alsobrooks, Maryland’s Democratic Senate candidate, attacked her well-known opponent, Larry Hogan, over his caginess regarding who he will vote for in the presidential election when they debated on Thursday.
“I think it is instructive of the way he would operate as a senator — unable to make tough calls,” Alsobrooks said.
Hogan, who has a reputation for being the rare Republican who doesn’t hold back on criticizing Donald Trump, didn’t get a chance to respond at the debate. (In past elections where Trump has appeared on the ballot, he said he has written in his own dad and Ronald Reagan.)
But the moment encapsulated the tension between Hogan and much of his party. As he has run a campaign emphasizing the importance of bipartisanship, the debate captured how awkward that could be if he gets to Washington, especially as he used the platform of the debate to continue holding his entire party at arm’s length.
“I think the voters of Maryland know me, and they know my proven track record of standing up to Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and to the Republican Party,” Hogan said.
While polls have Alsobrooks consistently leading, Hogan, as a former governor, has won statewide races as a Republican in a solidly blue state. He’s relying on his ability to convince voters, many of whom work in and live near Washington, that he’s not like the polarizing Republicans running in other states.
But that’s not the easiest case to make when Trump himself said he’d like to see Hogan win. Hogan rejected the endorsement, but that comment may have been enough for Maryland’s voters to put him in the “MAGA, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell” category he’s been desperately trying to avoid.
Still, Hogan used the debate to try and slip back into the “Maverick” category.
On the topic of Democrats packing the Supreme Court, Hogan said the institution is the one thing they shouldn’t be politicizing.
“I think trying to change the rules to jam things through on a party-line vote is not the right way to go about it,” Hogan said, adding that he probably has more experience appointing judges than most of the Senate does.
And as far as NATO membership for Ukraine goes, Hogan seemed frustrated with the party lines again.
“Here we go again with the Republicans and Democrats,” he said, “I criticized Democrats and Republicans who wouldn’t support Israel and Ukraine and to stand up for our allies.”
Common ground was another theme in this debate. Hogan and Alsobrooks have crossed paths in the past in their previous positions and were civil to each other throughout the debate. Hogan even threw in that he likes and respects Alsobrooks and praised her life story. But they still slipped in pointed attacks.
“If he wanted to be an independent, he should have run as one,” Alsobrooks said during the debate.
Hogan wasn’t the only one trying to put some distance between themselves and positions generally associated with the party. Alsobrooks was touting her position in law enforcement and a tough-on-crime attitude, which has in the past been a vulnerability for Democrats, but this cycle has become something they’ve tried to lean into.
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.