Maryland Democrats can breathe a sigh of relief after the blue state’s popular former two-term Republican governor, Larry Hogan, announced Tuesday he would not mount a challenge to Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) this fall.
Hogan, who served as governor between 2015 and 2023 and lost a high-profile Senate bid in 2024, announced via op-ed in the Baltimore Sun that his days in politics were over.
“I care deeply about the state of Maryland, and I remain concerned about the direction of our nation’s politics, but I have no intention of running for office again,” wrote Hogan. “It was an honor to serve, but it’s time to look forward, not back. The fight for Maryland and America’s future does not belong to any one person or any one party; it belongs to the people.”
Hogan’s exit likely benefits Moore, a 47-year-old rising star in the Democratic Party. Without Hogan, the gubernatorial field for Maryland Republicans includes no one with statewide name recognition.
Moore is running for a second term in the 2026 midterm elections, an election he’s all but sure to win without the threat of Hogan’s centrist style of anti-Trump politics putting a “solid” Democratic state into play for the GOP. The incumbent has courted national attention and is seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender, ambitions Moore denies.
The Moore campaign declined to comment on Hogan’s announcement. It revealed Monday that Moore raised $7 million in 2025, the most ever raised in an off year in the Old Line State.
Maryland Democrats long feared a challenge from Hogan, who stoked murmurs of a comeback run last year with a social media post made in jest to poke fun at Democrats for continuing to make him the frequent subject of their criticism.
Hogan reflected on his achievements as governor from 2015 to 2023 while resurfacing his deep displeasure with the nation’s broader politics that are “dominated by the well-connected.” He eviscerated lawmakers in Washington, situated only a 45-minute drive from the governor’s mansion in Annapolis, where he once resided.
“Congress has come to resemble the nation’s most prestigious and self-obsessed retirement home instead of the vigor exemplified by the founders,” Hogan wrote. “We see it in the redistricting wars, waged by both sides, where maps are drawn in secret, behind closed doors, engineered to protect incumbents and shut out the upstarts who drive real change.”
For years, Hogan represented a red dot in a sea of blue that is Maryland politics, buoyed by his centrism and disdain for President Donald Trump. But his unsuccessful 2024 Senate bid was the latest indicator that even with Hogan’s name on the ballot, the future for Maryland Republicans was bleak. Vice President Kamala Harris’s 27-point victory over Trump was her second-largest margin in the nation, and Democrats now hold a supermajority in the General Assembly.
Hogan made the case that his victories were “unique and special but not unrepeatable,” urging Republicans to run candidates “who are willing to win with a positive message that appeals to more people.”
And to both parties, he pushed for an embrace of term limits and nonpartisan redistricting “to break the grip of permanent incumbency and ensure that our government remains a revolving door for the best ideas, not a fortress for career politicians and ideas that never worked in the first place.”
“We showed that when you refuse to let the fringes and factions get in the way of solving serious problems, you can actually come together and get things done,” he wrote. “We proved over and over again, through unprecedented trials, that the politics of our nation need not divide our state.”
‘BOOGEYMAN’ LARRY HOGAN HAUNTS MARYLAND DEMOCRATS WITH FEARS OF WES MOORE CHALLENGE
Hogan indicated he’ll continue to engage on certain political issues despite retiring from elected politics.
“I will continue to speak out on issues that matter, especially when our record has proven a better path forward,” he wrote. “And I will be working to inspire and support the next generation of civic leaders.”