July 1 marked a new month and new fees are hitting Marylanders. The cost to register a car increased by as much as 60-70% and it was just one of many new fees.

On Monday, Former Maryland Gov. and current U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan spoke with Patrice Sanders of FOX45 about the state’s economic outlook. Hogan said the state had a surplus of more than $5 million when he left the governor’s office. But now he says Maryland is in rough economic shape, and the hardships of increasing costs are impacting residents.

“The economy is really tough right now,” said Hogan, a Republican. “Maryland families and retirees are struggling to try to pay the bills because everything is more expensive.”

Hogan’s successor and current Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, has said he had to rein in spending in the current budget as federal pandemic aid ended, making some spending unsustainable.

“We spent a lot of money during COVID but we’re not spending it anymore,” Hogan said. “I think that the legislature failed to rein in some of the mandated spending, which they should have.”

Another issue Hogan discussed was how different Maryland jurisdictions handle ICE detainers. The former governor believes that, for the sake of safety across the state, there needs to be a uniform policy for all jurisdictions to follow.

“[Maryland] is releasing violent criminals into neighborhoods without following federal law by notifying ICE when they put a detainer in,” Hogan said. “Several jurisdictions have made the decision not to notify them and it’s just outrageous and unacceptable. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, and I think the federal government needs to force these local governments to follow federal law.”

Hogan is in the middle of a race to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. Hogan’s opponent is Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and polling shows her with a lead. Hogan says projected results are not a concern with the election still many months away.

“I’ve been saying from day one I’m a huge underdog in this race,” Hogan said. “Even though I left office with a lot of people thinking I did a good job as governor I’m not taking anything for granted.”

As Hogan has been out in the community pushing to earn voters’ backing, his biggest endorsement has come from the Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump. Hogan, a critic of the former president, believes the endorsement may have hurt his chances in the race, but only slightly.

“It was not something [my campaign] was looking for,” Hogan said. “But look, Maryland is a very Democratic state. They vote for me because I am a non-partisan, bi-partisan guy that reaches across the aisle. Donald Trump lost the state by 33 points, I ran 46 points ahead of him so I’m not sure that is going to carry a lot of weight.”