WASHINGTON POST READERS: Hogan Could “Hand Republicans the Senate Majority” & “Would be Compelled to Toe the Party Line”

Washington Post readers disavowed self-described “lifelong Republican” Larry Hogan for potentially being “the deciding vote that would hand Republicans the Senate majority and the majority leader’s office.” Hogan, who was personally recruited by Mitch McConnell to help Republicans take control of the Senate, could be the 51st seat Republicans need to push forward an extreme agenda.

SEE FOR YOURSELF.

Washington Post Reader from Millersville, MD

• Even if I were unsure about whose policies are better, or whose skills would make the better senator, my choice to vote for Ms. Alsobrooks would still be easy for the following reason. 
• In the Senate, the majority party elects the majority leader, who controls what legislation is brought to the floor for a vote. The majority leader can ensure that legislation he or she opposes never reaches such a point.
• Mr. Hogan might well be the deciding vote that would hand Republicans the Senate majority and the majority leader’s office. Mr. Hogan’s promises of independence and compromise mean very little.
• If Republicans control the Senate, we will have more chaos and gridlock, as seen in the past couple of years. The best way to achieve responsible compromise and bipartisan legislation is to elect Ms. Alsobrooks, an outstanding moderate and pragmatist, to the Senate.

Washington Post Reader from Chevy Chase, MD

• I feel some voters fail to understand how different the Senate is from a governorship. Mr. Hogan’s assertion that he will exercise an independent voice as a senator… is disproved by reviewing the records of Republicans’ most “independent” senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
• Both voted to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Ms. Collins voted to seat Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ms. Murkowski voted for Amy Coney Barrett. Both voted against confirming Nicole Berner as the first openly gay person to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Both voted to acquit Donald Trump at his first impeachment trial.
• Ms. Murkowski voted with Mr. Trump 72.6 percent of the time; Ms. Collins supported the president’s positions 65 percent of the time. Sen. Ben Cardin, whom Mr. Hogan or Ms. Alsobrooks will replace, voted with Mr. Trump a mere 25 percent of the time.
• If there is a Republican majority, the successor of Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as party leader will determine which presidential nominees get hearings (just ask Merrick Garland how that works out), whether there are spurious “investigations” (remember Benghazi?), and who gets Senate committee appointments and chairships. 
• With congressional constraints he did not face as Maryland’s executive, a Sen. Hogan would be compelled to toe the party line. It is naive of him, or voters, to think otherwise.

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