WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Ever hear someone say, “I sure wish Ronald Reagan was president”? Maryland’s governor is turning that thought into action through a 2020 ballot box protest.
Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, says he voted for Ronald Reagan in this year’s presidential election.
Hogan told reporters he wrote in the name of the former president noting he couldn’t support President Donald Trump or Democratic rival Joe Biden.
He joins Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, another Republican, who said he can’t support Trump.
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Hogan, who voted by mail, said he wrote Reagan’s name on the ballot to make a statement. The Post writes:
Hogan, 64, called Reagan “my hero in politics” alongside his late father, Larry Hogan Sr., whom he wrote in for president in 2016 after deciding that he could not support Trump or then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The elder Hogan, who died in 2017, was well known for being the first Republican in Congress to support President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment in 1974.
“I know it’s simply symbolic. It’s not going to change the outcome in my state. But I thought it was important to just cast a vote that showed the kind of person I’d like to see in office,” Hogan said of his ballot this year.
Hogan is largely viewed as a centrist Republican who may make a run at the White House in 2024.
Last month, Hogan endorsed Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who is another Republican viewed as being “right down the middle” and not always going along with the GOP crowd.
Throughout 2020, Hogan has made national headlines for being critical of Trump and his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.