To hear former Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland tell it, electing him to the United States Senate would pull the chamber from the brink of constant partisan crisis and nudge it toward consensus on the biggest issues facing the country.
Mr. Hogan, a center-leaning Republican who was elected twice in deep blue Maryland, argues he could occupy the space in the Senate currently held by the retiring Senator Joe Manchin III, independent of West Virginia, a swing vote who has frustrated both parties while wielding outsize influence and delivering major projects to his home state.
“I’m going to be the key guy in the middle that kind of keeps things from going off the rails and being crazy,” Mr. Hogan said of how he would approach being in Congress.
Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive who is running against Mr. Hogan for Maryland’s open Senate seat, describes the race in similarly grandiose terms but warns voters not to be fooled by her opponent’s pledges of independence from his fellow Republicans. Electing Mr. Hogan would hand control of the chamber to the Republicans, and, she argues, make it easier for the G.O.P. to install conservative judges and dictate a right-wing legislative agenda.
“The question is not whether or not we like Larry Hogan,” Ms. Alsobrooks recently told a crowd at a rally in Columbia, Md. “It’s not even whether or not it was a good idea to vote for him for governor. The question we are answering is who should have the 51st vote in the Senate.”
