Annapolis, MD—This Saturday, Governor Hogan will travel to Virginia to campaign for Ed Gillespie, a candidate who the Washington Post’s editorial board said is seeking “to dupe and terrify Virginians by using the racialized specter of Hispanic violence.”
Many Republicans and civil rights groups have condemned Gillespie’s misleading and racially-charged campaign, but not Larry Hogan. Civil rights groups in Virginia condemned Gillespie’s “racist electoral tactics;” Norm Ornstein said Gillespie was “running one of the most vile campaigns” he has seen; and political strategist for Sen. Rand Paul Doug Stafford warned Gillespie that “the dog whistles are a little too loud.”
Even Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele said Gillespie’s ads “have no place in the campaign.” But for Governor Hogan, Republican partisan politics come before people and principle as he intends to campaign for the Virginia Republican, who he called a “great leader.”
“Governor Hogan should be speaking out against racial fear mongering, but unfortunately he’s chosen to put party politics ahead of people by campaigning with Ed Gillespie,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Matthews. “Governor Hogan’s actions make his priorities clear: After raising money for an extremist anti-Semite in Pennsylvania earlier this year, he now thinks that Gillespie’s racial fear-mongering make him a ‘great leader.’ Marylanders deserve a Governor who will move us forward, not join partisan efforts to take our nation back to the ugliest aspects of our past. If Governor Hogan stands with the people of our state, he will not attend Gillespie’s rally on Saturday.”
In August, Hogan raised money to support Pennsylvania state Senator Scott Wagner, a Trump supporter who has called Open Society Foundation founder George Soros a “Hungarian Jew” with “hatred for the United States.”