Hogan to headline fundraiser for Murkowski in DC

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is set to headline a fundraiser for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday in his latest effort to boost Republicans who have come under fire by former President Trump.

Murkowski is one of seven Republican senators who voted last year to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, though she’s the only one facing reelection this year. She’s currently facing a primary challenge from Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who landed Trump’s endorsement last year.

It’s not the first time that Hogan has weighed in for one of Trump’s Republican detractors. 

The Maryland governor, a rare Republican critic of Trump and potential 2024 contender for the GOP presidential nomination, attended a fundraising trip for Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) late last year.

Herrera Beutler was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

He also hosted a fundraiser for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), a one-time Trump ally who earned a spot on the former president’s enemies list after he rebuffed pleas to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. 

Kemp easily overcame a primary challenge last month from Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) in a race that delivered an embarrassing blow to the former president’s endorsing power.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal last month, Hogan acknowledged his differences with Kemp, but praised the Georgia governor as a “strong” leader in the face of numerous challenges. 

“We don’t approach every issue the same way, but I respect that he shoots straight, listens to his constituents and puts their needs first,” Hogan wrote.

Hogan, who is serving out the final months of his term in the governor’s mansion, has sought to leverage his political capital to steer the Republican Party away from the bombastic populism of Trump. 

In a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library last month, Hogan criticized the direction that Trump had taken the party, warning that allegiance to the former president and his repeated claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him would cost the GOP politically in the long term.

“Trump said we would be winning so much that we would get tired of winning. Instead, we lost the White House, the Senate, the House, governors, and state legislative bodies,” Hogan said, according to prepared remarks. “I am tired of our party losing.”