Emphasizing continuity, Gov. Larry Hogan endorses Kelly Schulz to ‘proceed the legacy’ as subsequent governor – Baltimore Solar

Outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday threw his official endorsement behind fellow Republican Kelly Schulz for Maryland’s subsequent governor, citing their years of shut political collaboration and calling Schulz the one candidate in a position to “proceed the legacy” of his two phrases in workplace.

The transfer by the governor to endorse Schulz, who spent seven years as a cupboard secretary beneath Hogan, hardly got here as a shock. Hogan, who’s term-limited, has repeatedly touted Schulz’s credentials in response to assaults from Del. Dan Cox, Schulz’s main rival for the Republican nomination and a frequent right-wing critic of Hogan.

Hogan repeatedly touted his personal approval scores and the state’s improved economic system since he first took workplace in 2016 whereas making his pitch Tuesday for Schulz to a lodge ballroom crammed with supporters on the Annapolis waterfront.

Each different candidate within the crowded discipline for governor — almost a dozen Democrats, three different Republicans, a Libertarian and an unbiased — “wish to take us in a totally completely different path,” stated Hogan.

“There’s just one candidate who has the expertise, the flexibility and the need to maintain transferring Maryland ahead, to maintain altering Maryland for the higher, who can get the job executed and proceed the legacy,” stated Hogan.

Schulz, 53, embraced Hogan’s endorsement and framed her candidacy as a continuation of Hogan’s management towards a “secure, regular and affluent” Maryland.

“We began on this journey eight years in the past however we’ve to have the ability to proceed on the trail,” Schulz stated.

Schulz additionally famous that, if elected, she can be the primary feminine governor within the state’s historical past.

Schulz was beforehand a Republican state delegate representing Frederick County earlier than serving as labor after which commerce secretary beneath Hogan. She resigned from the administration in January to marketing campaign full-time.

She stated her working mate for lieutenant governor, Jeff Woolford, couldn’t make Tuesday’s occasion as a result of he was serving with the Maryland Air Nationwide Guard in Texas.

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Schulz additionally echoed Hogan’s rhetoric on violent crime, elevating the problem a number of instances briefly remarks to induce harsher punishments as an answer for what she described as maybe probably the most urgent subject going through the state.

“We’re going to deal with the criminals like criminals,” Schulz stated, “and the law enforcement officials like heroes.”

She faces three different contenders for the Republican nomination. Along with Cox, she faces perennial gadfly candidate — and lately disbarred legal professional — Robin Ficker in addition to Baltimore County resident Joe Werner.

Former President Donald Trump, who often traded barbs with Hogan, boosted Cox’s candidacy by providing his endorsement in November. Cox embraced Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, unsuccessfully sued Hogan to overturn emergency pandemic restrictions and filed a decision to question Hogan, a stunt shortly and quietly dismissed by his fellow Republican lawmakers.

Schulz on Tuesday brushed apart a query about Trump’s endorsement of her opponent and stated she was extra targeted on having “the most well-liked governor” standing beside her to champion what she stated have been their accomplishments bettering the enterprise local weather within the state.

Cox has ignored repeated messages and interview requests from The Baltimore Solar and did so once more Tuesday.

A crowded discipline of not less than 11 Democratic candidates are presently jockeying for his or her occasion’s nomination for governor, together with amongst others Comptroller Peter Franchot; Tom Perez, the previous U.S. labor secretary and chairman of the Democratic Nationwide Committee; Wes Moore, an writer and former nonprofit government; former U.S. Schooling Secretary John King; former Maryland Legal professional Common Doug Gansler; and Rushern Baker III, the previous government of Prince George’s County.