EXCLUSIVEFormer GOP Gov. Larry Hogan's uncanny solution for how 'weird' Republicans can win back women
- Hogan is running for Senate in Maryland against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks
The Republican Party has a woman problem. Ex-Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has a solution: don't be weird.
Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and down-ballot conservatives are facing an uphill challenge of winning over the female vote in November.
Vance's recent comments criticizing 'childless cat ladies' have earned him flak on both sides of the aisle. Hogan and others fear it may further alienate the critical voting block from the GOP.
It's earned him the descriptor of 'weird,' first coined by Gov. Tim Walz, the newly minted VP candidate who Hogan counts as a friend.
'I'm not weird,' Hogan, who is embarked on an unabashedly centrist Senate campaign, deadpanned in an interview with DailyMail.com. 'I'm not in favor of weird.'
Republicans who want to draw in female voters 'have got to be more like me' he added, as Kamala Harris currently holds a 13-point lead over former President Donald Trump with female voters.
'I'm not weird,' Hogan, who is now embarked on an unabashedly centrist Senate campaign, deadpanned in an interview with DailyMail.com. 'I'm not in favor of weird'
As a Republican running in solid-blue Maryland, Hogan has uniquely situated himself as one of the last remaining vocal anti-Trump Republicans.
He's signaled he'd like to restore Roe v. Wade at a time when most Republicans say abortion should be left to the states.
Hogan told DailyMail.com he won't be voting for Trump or Harris this cycle, but declined to reveal who he would write in for president on his ballot.
'I just don't think those are the two best people to represent America,' he said as he visited tents of local businesses in Olney, Maryland in a celebration for National Night Out.
Between 2016 and 2020, Trump narrowed his gender gap: he won 44 percent of women votes in 2020 compared to 39 percent in 2016.
Although recent polling suggests that Harris has a 13-point lead with women over Trump, she's losing men by nine points.
Democrats hope the overturning of Roe v. Wade and recent comments about women can undo Trump's progress with women.
Vance has been forced to defend comments he made years ago knocking 'childless cat ladies' and in 2020 quipping that the 'most psychotic' and 'most deranged' online commentators were typically childless.
'I didn't think some some of the comments from the former president or the new potential vice president were all that helpful, obviously,' Hogan said.
'Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I've got nothing against cats,' Vance quipped recently about the remarks. He said they were not about criticizing people without children but the Democrats' 'anti-family' policies.
Walz, the current Minnesota governor, first popularized the put-down of 'weird' last month.
'We do not like what has happened, when you can't even go to Thanksgiving dinner with your uncle because you end up in some weird fight that is unnecessary,' the Minnesota governor said on July 23 on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.'
'Well, it's true. These guys [Republicans] are weird.'
Hogan took heat from fellow Republicans for congratulating Walz for being picked as Harris' running mate.
'I want to extend my congratulations to Governor Walz,' he wrote on X. 'I have always appreciated his dedication to public service. I believe we need more governors at the national level because governors have to actually get stuff done. I wish Tim and his family well.'
Suburban women - a long-coveted demographic by both Democrats and Republicans - can often make or break an election. Biden won their support in crucial swing states last go-around.
'In some cases, [Republicans] are on the wrong side on some of the issues,' Hogan said. I've always defended a woman's right to choose and that's what I did for eight years as governor, what I promised to do, I promised to restore Roe v. Wade. So I think that's a big part of it.'
Democrats hope the overturning of Roe v. Wade and recent comments about women can undo Trump's progress with women
That's not to discount that 'women care about the same issues everybody else does,' he says. 'Affordability and the economy, they care about crime and their neighborhoods.'
And conservatives' struggles with women are not going away. Democrats led Republicans with 18-29-year-old women by nearly 50 points and 30-44-year-old women by 16 points, according to a Brookings analysis of 2022 exit polling.
The overturning of Roe months before the election was widely attributed with turning the expected 'red wave' in the House into a red ripple, and Republicans losing control of the Senate.
Hogan served as governor of the state from 2015 to 2023. Despite wide popularity as governor, he's trailing behind Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in the polls in the race for U.S. Senate.
