Larry Hogan didn’t see it coming.

As one of the fiercest Republican critics of Donald Trump, he wasn’t expecting the former president’s endorsement in the U.S. Senate race in Maryland.

But on Thursday, June 13, Trump said during a Fox News interview that he’d like to see Hogan win and believed the former Maryland governor had a good chance of winning.

A Trump endorsement worth three letters

“It was shocking,” Hogan said of the endorsement. It was one of many things he discussed with The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board on Tuesday. Hogan said he was on his way to an event in Baltimore County when he received a text about Trump’s endorsement. “I thought it was a joke…I think I typed WTF.”

It wasn’t a joke. And it was a sharp turn for the Trump campaign which had slammed Hogan weeks earlier when the former governor said the New York verdict against Trump should be respected.

The endorsement, which Hogan rejected, is counterintuitive to one of the central themes of his Senate bid in Maryland. Though he’s running as a Republican, he’s not running as a Trump Republican. Instead, he’s doubling down on the independent streak that made him a popular governor and one of the first critics of Trump.

Alsobrooks supporters warn Hogan would vote for the Trump agenda; Trump doesn’t even believe that

Part of Angela Alsobrooks’ campaign warns that Hogan could be the 51st Republican in the Senate, handing the majority to the GOP. Some of her supporters warn that if Hogan and Trump both win, Hogan — who has publicly opposed Trump for years — would buckle under the pressures of a Trump White House and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. But even Trump seems to doubt that, with his top surrogates saying no Republicans should respect Hogan.

When asked about voters’ concerns that Hogan would suddenly show deference to Trump or be a rubber stamp for Republicans, he pointed out that 2024 will mark the third election he has not voted for or endorsed the former president. He said he has been arguably the leading voice of opposition to Trump in the Republican Party since the day Trump rode down the New York escalator to announce his candidacy on June 16, 2015.

“I’m going to be that same strong, independent, key voice in the middle who is going to stand up to both extremes of both parties,” Hogan said. “I never hesitated to stand up to the former president or, you know, to the current president, and I’ll do it with the future president, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats. I always try to find that common ground for the common good. What about my background would make you think I’m going to be caving to Donald Trump when I never have?”

Why did Hogan talk about his position on abortion after the May primary?

When one of our political reporters asked Hogan why his position on abortion changed or evolved after the May primary, Hogan said he’s been on the record since 1992 as being against a national abortion ban.

“I’ve never been for it and never would vote for it,” Hogan said.

When he ran for governor in 2014, Hogan said he promised that he was going to continue to provide abortion access and wouldn’t do anything to change Maryland laws. “And we did that. We protected abortion access for eight years. We fully funded Planned Parenthood and abortion access for eight years.”

Hogan said he would co-sponsor a bill codifying Roe and a bill protecting in vitro fertilization.

He said he would also support the Maryland referendum that will enshrine abortion access in the state.

Why is Hogan running for Senate?

He’s mostly running because he is disgusted with politics as usual in Washington—something many candidates have said and many elected members of Congress have failed to change.

Hogan had told many people he wouldn’t run for Senate, but the tippin g point came when Trump tanked a bipartisan immigration bill because he didn’t want President Joe Biden to have a legislative victory.

“It was sort of like the straw that broke the camel’s back, not the reason for running,” Hogan said. “Securing the border is probably one of the most important priorities.”

The bipartisan border bill was on track to pass and would have provided funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

When Trump urged Republicans to vote against it, and the effort died, Hogan said, “Enough is enough.”

Hogan added that he doesn’t belong to the isolationist MAGA wing of the Republican Party. “I say I come from the Republican wing of the Republican Party, the old school, where they actually believe in peace through strength and standing up for our allies and standing up to our enemies.”

Women are concerned about the cost of care. How will Hogan help?

The Baltimore Sun receives letters and emails every week from women who say they are concerned and overburdened by the cost of care.

We asked Hogan what he would say to those voters.

“This is a key issue,” Hogan said. “…Affordability, in general, is the number one issue by far. People are concerned about the cost of care. They’re concerned about the cost of groceries. They’re concerned about the cost of housing and younger people being priced out of the housing market.”

So what would he do about it?

“I’m for maintaining the child tax care credits,” he said.

His affordability plan includes providing tax relief, increasing middle-class housing, reducing healthcare costs, making higher education more affordable, and fighting against costly regulations and excessive government spending.

Affordability was “a driving mission of my administration for eight years in Annapolis, and it’s something I’m going to focus on in Washington.”

Candy Woodall is the opinion editor at The Baltimore Sun.

She wants to know your thoughts on the U.S. Senate race in Maryland and can be reached at cwoodall@baltsun.com.