DAVIDSONVILLE, Maryland — Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan isn’t shying away from being a political punching bag for liberals and conservatives as a centrist Republican running for Senate in Maryland . In fact, he’s embracing it.
“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,” Hogan told a crowd of supporters at a campaign event Saturday as he was introduced to the tune of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You.” “Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”
In the deep blue state, Hogan’s core message to voters is synonymous with the famous track — and why the former two-term governor quipped to reporters that it should become his campaign’s official theme song.
Hogan is running to become the first Republican elected to the Senate in Maryland since 1980 in the open seat being vacated by retiring longtime Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD).
At a barbecue fundraiser attended by several hundred people on a cold and rainy afternoon in Davidsonville, roughly 45 minutes east of Washington, Hogan repeatedly went after Democrats and his own party for allowing “divisiveness and dysfunction” to fester in the capital city.