Maryland Gov. Hogan slams GOP pick to replace him as mentally unstable

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is ratcheting up his feud with Dan Cox, slamming the GOP nominee to replace him in Annapolis as not all there in the head.

“He’s not, in my opinion, mentally stable,” Mr. Hogan, who is term-limited, said this week on WGMD radio. “He wanted to hang my friend, Mike Pence, and took three busloads of people to the Capitol.”

Mr. Hogan was referring to Mr. Cox’s push to organize buses for the Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rally in Washington and a tweet that dubbed Mr. Pence, then vice president, as a “traitor,” though Mr. Cox later apologized.

Mr. Hogan and Mr. Cox are feuding after Mr. Cox easily beat the governor’s preferred candidate, Kelly Schulz, in the GOP primary in July.
Mr. Cox faces longer odds in the general election against Democratic nominee Wes Moore, an entrepreneur and former CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation.

Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Maryland two to one. Mr. Hogan was able to overcome that divide with his broad appeal. His criticism of Mr. Cox could make it more difficult for the current GOP nominee to win over enough Democratic defectors and independent voters.

Mr. Cox has slammed Mr. Hogan for being heavy-handed during the COVID-19 pandemic and tried to cast his opponent as a part of a socialist Democratic agenda.

“Hogan has a problem with telling the truth and mounting smear antics,” Mr. Cox said in a statement. “As a lifelong Marylander, father of 10 children and experienced state delegate, businessman and attorney at law, the people of Maryland and I trounced Hogan’s lockdown agenda candidate. And I intend to do it again this fall by unifying Maryland to win big for freedom.”