Trump endorses Larry Hogan to represent Maryland in the Senate

Former President Donald Trump endorsed former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, despite Hogan urging voters to respect Trump's verdict in his New York hush money case.

Trump was convicted of 34 charges related to a hush money payment he made to former porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and is expected to appeal the verdict and his subsequent sentence. He will be sentenced on July 11.

The former president said that he was personally "about the party" and the country, and would like to see Hogan win the Senate seat in November. Hogan is running as a Republican, and was elected governor as a Republican. But he has faced pushback from party members over his stances on abortion.

“Yeah, I’d like to see him win. I think he has a good chance to win,” Trump told a Fox News reporter. “We gotta take the majority. We have to straighten out our country. So I’d like to see him win. He’s somebody that can win … I know other people made some strong statements, but I can just say from my standpoint, I’m about the party and I’m about the country."

Hogan, whose campaign later told the reporter he would not be supporting Trump, previously vowed that he would not vote for Trump in November and would vote for a third party candidate instead. Hogan previously endorsed Nikki Haley for the Republican nomination when she was still in the race.

The endorsement comes despite members of Trump's entourage and campaign slamming Hogan for his comment that people should "respect the verdict and the legal process." Trump's campaign manager Chris LaCivita told Hogan that he just "ended" his campaign with the remark, and Trump's daughter-in-law and The Hill reported that Republican National Committee co-Chair Lara Trump claimed Hogan “doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point and, quite frankly, anybody in America."

Democrats warned voters about Trump's endorsement, claiming he was just endorsing him in hopes of securing a Republican majority.

“The stakes of this race could not get any higher," Hogan's opponent Angela Alsobrooks said in a statement, reported by The Hill. "Just last week, Senate Republicans shot down access to contraception. Hours ago, Senate Republicans voted against protecting IVF. And just now, Donald Trump endorsed Larry Hogan so he can have a Republican majority."

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.