Alsobrooks criticizes “lifelong Republican” Larry Hogan

The 30-second montage shows the two-term centrist former governor stating in several interviews that he is a “staunch, lifelong Republican,” that he could not “support the Democratic nominee” and that he would not “consider himself a moderate.”

Hogan has since said he will not vote for either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump and plans to cast an unspecified “symbolic” vote instead. His campaign has said his “biggest challenge” in Maryland, a deeply Democratic state, is continuing to put distance between himself and the national party.

“Larry Hogan said it loud and clear,” Alsobrooks’ campaign said. “He is a lifelong Republican who will proudly give Mitch McConnell the Senate majority.”

Hogan’s campaign criticized the ad as “panic mode.”

“Maryland residents know Governor Hogan as an independent leader who has stood up to his party time and again, and they know his proven track record of working together to deliver bipartisan, common-sense solutions,” the campaign said.

The Hogan campaign went on to say that Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George’s County, Maryland, “is running solely on the basis of her party affiliation, but another stamp of approval will do nothing to change Washington.”

“We expect these partisan attacks to continue and become even more desperate in the coming weeks,” the campaign added.

The ad featured the latest skirmish between Hogan and Alsobrooks in a surprisingly competitive race in a state that could swing control of the Senate. A bipartisan AARP poll this week showed the race neck and neck with 46 percent of the vote for both candidates, but nonpartisan election forecasters still strongly favor Alsobrooks as the winner.

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Alsobrooks and his Democratic allies have sought to negate Hogan’s centrist reputation, painting him as a partisan who will facilitate a conservative agenda under a Republican majority and pose a threat to Democratic policy priorities like abortion access, which Hogan has vowed to protect.

Maryland Democrats are being vastly outnumbered by Republicans in the race, an indicator of the level of confidence Alsobrooks’ team has in their prospects at the polls. Future ad bookings in the Old Line State amount to nearly $8 million from Republicans and just $258,000 from Democrats, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.