Maryland Governor Larry Hogan accused the Republican National Committee of overprotecting President Trump from a fair primary challenge, but left the door open for a 2020 bid of his own.
He said the RNC and the Trump campaign have become far too entangled as the president is pushing for re-election.
“Typically they try to be fair arbiters of a process and I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve been involved in the Republican Party for most of my life. It’s unprecedented. And in my opinion it’s not the way we should be going about our politics,” he said in an interview with Politico, released Thursday.
RNC spokeswoman Cassie Smedile pushed back against Mr. Hogan in a statement to Politico.
“President Trump doesn’t need any assistance to protect him from primary challengers. He has an unprecedented level of support among Republican voters. The unanimous resolution in support of the president’s reelection at our winter meeting showed just that,” she said. “Any effort to challenge President Trump in a primary is bound to go absolutely nowhere, as Governor Hogan acknowledges.”
Mr. Hogan told Politico he is planning to make a trip to New Hampshire in the spring, but is in no rush to make a decision on whether or not he’ll decide to run.
SEE ALSO: Bill Weld mulls 2020 primary challenge to Trump: ‘He’s not indispensable at all’
“At this point in time, I don’t see any path to winning a Republican primary against this president, or anybody doing it. But things have a way of changing,” he said. “I don’t know what the lay of the land is going to look like this summer, or in the fall.”
Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld launched an exploratory committee last Friday, the closest step anyone has taken to formally challenging the president for the nomination. In 2016, Mr. Weld was the vice presidential running mate on the Libertarian Party ticket under former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.
While the threat of his campaign has garnered national attention, local GOP chairs in the pivotal primary states of New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina remained unimpressed.
They told The Washington Times that there was no prominent Republican they could think of that would be able to make a successful challenge.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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