Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) doesn’t see a viable path to primary President Donald Trump right now — in part because the RNC has agreed to protect the President from any Republican challengers.
“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,” Hogan told Politico. “It’s very undemocratic and to say, ‘We’re in some cases not going to allow a debate, we may not have a primary…’”
Earlier this year, the RNC sent a clear message to possible challengers by passing a resolution to give Trump “undivided support” for the upcoming election.
Cassie Smedile, spokeswoman for the RNC, responded that Trump doesn’t need the RNC’s help.
“President Trump doesn’t need any assistance to protect him from primary challengers. He has an unprecedented level of support among Republican voters,” she said. “The unanimous resolution in support of the president’s reelection at our winter meeting showed just that. Any effort to challenge President Trump in a primary is bound to go absolutely nowhere, as Governor Hogan acknowledges.”
Hogan, an extremely popular Republican governor in a blue state, has been mulling a primary challenge in recent days, and is planning trips to some early voting states.
Still, he’s being practical about the political headwinds he faces.
“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 told Politico. “I don’t know what the lay of the land is going to look like this summer, or in the fall.”
