The Republican Party is being hurt by far-right candidates, including the “QAnon whack job” who won Maryland’s gubernatorial primary but doesn’t have a likelihood of beating his Democratic opponent, the state’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan warned Sunday.
Donald Trump-backed conspiracy theorist Dan Cox — who still baselessly insists the 2020 election was rigged — won the state’s GOP primary last week with the assistance of Democrats who aim to crush him come November, Hogan said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I might not support the guy. I wouldn’t let him within the governor’s office, let alone vote for him for the governor’s office,” Hogan told host Jonathan Karl.
Hogan is convinced Cox has no likelihood of winning. And he fears the scenario is being repeated across the nation with similar fringe Republican candidates winning party primaries.
“It’s an enormous loss for the Republican Party,” Hogan said. “We’ve no likelihood of saving that governor’s seat.”
He sees what’s happening now as a protracted battle for the “heart and soul” of the Republican Party amid the prospect of a big lack of power.
It’s only going to worsen if Trump declares before the midterms that he’s running for the presidency again, Hogan warned.
A Trump reelection bid In “competitive places and purple battlefields goes to cost us” seats, as voters terrified of the extremist former president and the candidates he supports will abandon the Republican Party, he said.
Hogan said the situation “makes me more determined than ever to proceed the battle to win over the Republican Party, and take us back to a much bigger tent, more Reagan-esque, party.”
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he admitted.
Try the total interview below:
