Maryland’s Republican Governor Rejects Donald Trump, Said He Voted For Long-Dead Ronald Reagan Instead

Maryland’s Republican governor said he spurned Donald Trump at the polls this year, instead casting his ballot for what would be an unprecedented political comeback.

Larry Hogan said that instead of voting for Trump, he “voted for Ronald Reagan” by writing in the name of the Republican icon and former president, who has been dead for the last 16 years. As The Washington Post reported, Hogan’s vocal protest against Trump comes amid speculation that he could launch his own presidential bid in 2024. The Maryland governor has participated in fundraisers for a number of other members of his party who are cast as more pragmatic, including many from centrist districts where they are looking to gain crossover support from Democrats.

The report noted that Hogan has filmed an ad supporting Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who has been seen as more moderate and has offered some criticism of Trump at times. He has helped back other moderate GOP members in other states as well, the outlet added.

Hogan had not revealed who he planned to vote for this election, The Washington Post noted, saying in a July radio appearance that he needed more time to make a decision. But he told the newspaper this week that he had already voted by mail, and chose to make a protest vote rather than back his party’s representative. As the report suggested, it may have been something of a strategic decision as Trump is trailing Biden by a massive margin in Maryland.

“In an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday, the governor said he voted by mail last week. He said he wrote Reagan’s name on his ballot because he wanted to make a statement and felt he could in a state where the president is deeply unpopular, and Biden led a recent poll by 30 percentage points,” the report noted.

Others in the GOP have been vocally critical of Trump in the final weeks before Election Day. As The Inquisitr reported, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse was heard in a recently released audio blasting him as a “TV-obsessed, narcissistic individual” and predicted that he could take down the entire GOP in November, not only losing the White House but causing them to lose control of the U.S. Senate as well. Like Hogan, Sasse had spoken in the past about rejecting Trump in the voting booth, saying back in 2016 that he was considering casting a ballot for the Libertarian candidate rather than backing the real estate mogul who represented his party.