During and after his tenure in the White House, there was no love lost between Donald Trump and Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who was and remains among the former president’s most outspoken critics from within the Republican Party.
With Hogan term-limited and reportedly pondering a run for the presidency himself, that enmity has carried over into Maryland’s July 19 GOP gubernatorial primary to select the party’s candidate to succeed the popular governor—a Republican twice-elected to lead a Democrat-dominated state.
There are four candidates on the Republican gubernatorial ballot, but the contest boils down to a two-way battle between Hogan-backed Kelly Schulz—a moderate who served in his cabinet as labor secretary and commerce secretary—and Trump-endorsed state Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick)—a conservative attorney who sponsored a failed bid to impeach the governor in March….