Anti-Trump Republican Larry Hogan navigates dangerous political terrain in pivotal Senate contest

STEVENSVILLE, Md. (AP) — Andy DePaola welcomed Larry Hogan to his family’s restaurant with a big smile and a handshake. The warning came a few minutes later.

DePaola, the 64-year-old namesake of DePaola’s Bagel and Brunch here in Maryland’s conservative Eastern Shore, whispered to a reporter that Hogan better avoid disparaging former President Donald Trump.

“I’m a Trumper,” DePaola said as Hogan posed for pictures and made small talk with the excited breakfast crowd on a recent Friday morning. “I think Larry would be better off if he kept how he felt about Trump under his breath.”

The brief exchange during a weeks-long bus tour illustrates a stark political reality for the popular Republican former governor, who has single-handedly transformed Maryland’s sleepy Senate race into a top-tier contest in the national fight for the Senate majority. Hogan, who was perhaps the most outspoken anti-Trump Republican governor in the nation, can ill afford to lose any pieces of his delicate and diverse political coalition.

He’s hoping to become the first Republican in more than 40 years to win a Senate seat in this deep-blue state, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 statewide, with much of the Democratic support in Baltimore and the suburbs of Washington. Over the next six months, Hogan will have to fend off political threats from all sides.

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