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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan joked Tuesday that perhaps his political future may involve running for Baltimore mayor.
When asked during a WBAL Radio interview about what interventions he could take to curb crime in the city, Hogan dismissed the idea of bringing in the National Guard or the Maryland State Police.
But he suggested that “maybe in the election in 2022, maybe I’ll just run for mayor of Baltimore and fix it myself.”
The Republican governor got his date wrong, as Baltimore is in the midst of a mayoral campaign and the next election for the city’s top post won’t be until 2024.
He’d also have to switch his residency before any theoretical campaign in Baltimore. Hogan is registered to vote at his address at the governor’s mansion in Annapolis, and previously lived in Edgewater.
Hogan noted that Gov. Theodore McKeldin, also a Republican, served a term as mayor after two terms as governor. (McKeldin, a Baltimore native, also served a term as mayor before becoming governor.)
Hogan is asked regularly about his future plans, as he is barred by term limits from running for another term as governor in 2022. Hogan has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2024.
Hogan told WBAL hosts Bryan Nehman and Clarence Mitchell IV that while he “wouldn’t rule out anything,” he hasn’t given his future much thought.
“That next election is really far off from now,” he said. “We’ve got an election to get through here next week.”
Asked about his hypothetical run for mayor at an event in Southeast Baltimore later in the day, Hogan laughed and said he “missed the filing deadline” for the 2020 election. He cast his comments as a joke.
“We were talking about violent crime and what we could do about that, and I just joked with them I may have to run for mayor of Baltimore in 2022 — or 2024,” Hogan told reporters.
Setting the joke aside, Hogan told reporters that he wished lawmakers would give more consideration to his bills aimed at attacking violent crime by increasing certain sentences.
Maryland Policy & Politics
In the radio interview, Hogan also again urged voters to consider casting their ballots during early voting to avoid what he expects to be long lines on the traditional Election Day on Tuesday.
“So far so good,” was Hogan’s assessment of the start of early voting.
Hogan said elections officials are “doing everything they can to ensure everybody gets a chance to vote and every vote is counted fairly.”
While there were some lines on Monday, “people don’t seem to mind waiting a little bit,” he said.
Hogan declined to speculate on who may win the presidency, but said: “I think it’s going to be closer than most people think.”
Hogan already voted by mail and said he wrote in the name of Ronald Reagan, the deceased former president.
Hogan said he hopes for definitive results on election night, but with many mailed ballots, it could take awhile to know the winner, “which could cause some concern and chaos.”