Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ANNAPOLIS – (WMAL) Maryland Governor Larry Hogan saw right through what he thinks was the main objective from Democrats’ in the recently wrapped-up General Assembly session.
“They promised at the beginning of the session that their primary objective was to hurt me politically for next year’s election by tying me to Trump, and by focusing everything on Washington rather than on Maryland,” Hogan told the Larry O’Connor Show. “They did a good job of trying to do that, but it didn’t work.”
Hogan acknowledged his somewhat tenuous relationship with the Trump administration and its policies, but said they’re still on good terms.
“In spite of the fact that I didn’t endorse the President, obviously we get along with him very well as we did with the previous administration,” he said.
Still, Hogan allowed the vast majority of Trump-related bills to become law without his signature, including a bill guaranteeing funding to Planned Parenthood, and studying the effects of federal-level changes to health care and environmental policies. The legislature also expanded Attorney General Brian Frosh’s powers to allow him to sue the federal government without the Governor’s permission.
“He looked at the numbers, realized they had veto-proof majorities, and didn’t see the point in picking that fight,” St. Mary’s College political scientist Todd Eberly told WMAL. “The Governor has still continued to not really wade into that area when it comes to Trump. It’s going to be harder and harder for him to do that as this re-election comes closer.”
Chatter around the November 2018 election is already in full swing, as various Democratic lawmakers from Montgomery County State Senator Rich Madaleno to Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker gradually make their desires to run for the office more known. However, the usual posturing seen in the prior General Assembly session was notably absent, Eberly said.
“The expectation was that this was going to be a session dominated by the 2018 Governor’s race, and historically, that probably would’ve been the case. But the election of Trump really shifted the focus,” Eberly said. “The 2018 dynamic just didn’t play out in this session the way we might’ve predicted it to.”
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