I was amazed, appalled might be a better word, to see former Democratic state Sen. Bobby Zirkin write a piece of commentary for The Baltimore Sun endorsing former Gov. Larry Hogan that failed to even broach the most consequential aspect of Hogan’s run for the Senate in this year’s campaign in Maryland.

Regardless of whether Hogan is personally the most agreeable and likable politician we have today, voters, Democrats and independents in particular need to consider the much larger consequence of how voting for Hogan will empower today’s national Republican Party, the party of Mitch McConnell, JD Vance and, worst of all, Donald Trump.

The question of whether Hogan is pro-choice or not pales in comparison with the fact that his election would be likely to swing the Senate to the Republicans. Let’s think for a second of the effect of this on the abortion rights issue. If Vice President Kamala Harris is elected president and the Democrats do not have a Senate majority, then it will of course be impossible to ever bring to a vote in the Senate any attempt to codify Roe v. Wade with national legislation. Hogan will sit as a Republican, his pro-choice position as thin as a wafer and as hollow as an aluminum bat, thoroughly impotent to get a vote on the pro-choice legislation a President Harris would certainly propose. If Hogan is elected, that legislation will die in the Senate.

And if Hogan is elected along with Trump, thereby contributing to a Republican majority, Trump will have ample opportunity to appoint an endless array of anti-abortion judges, possibly including one or two more to the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, a future President Trump would have every opportunity to propose a nationwide abortion ban, every bit as enforceable in Maryland as in any other state and bring it to a vote in the Senate. Hogan, for all his pro-choice boasts and protestations, will be the useful tool of Trump and McConnell to further bury abortion rights.

The choice for Maryland Democrats and independents is clear and they already have an excellent candidate in Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a former prosecutor who has come down forcefully on the side that believes women can make their own health care decisions. She has also focused her attention on voting rights and reasonable measures to decrease gun violence. Her election will allow Maryland’s voice in the U.S. Senate to be used to promote pro-choice policies as opposed to being used via a backdoor to fight them.

Hogan’s decision to run for the Senate as a Republican was unfortunate. He could have chosen to run as an independent with a pledge to caucus with Democrats until such time as Trump does not dominate the Republican Party. He chose differently and, protestations or not, his political aspirations in 2024 stand to benefit Trump.

I’m glad to know that Hogan was kind to Zirkin’s mother when she had cancer, and I strongly suspect Hogan would be a pleasant enough person to meet. But the world does not work as we would wish it would; it operates in reality. The Republican Party of 2024 is not the party of Hogan, it’s the party of Trump. Democrats who think voting for Hogan will bring about bipartisanship are sadly mistaken. They are playing into the hands of extremist Republicans.

To all Democrats and independents who may consider voting for Hogan, please consider more than anything else the answer to the following question: Whom do you think Trump wants you to vote for in the Maryland Senate election? Trump knows well that a Senator Hogan will be a useful tool to further his agenda, and a vote for Hogan is, in the reality of politics, an assist to Trump.

Marc Springer (mspringer68@gmail.com) is an attorney in Massachusetts.