- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Larry Hogan
Larry Hogan
Former Republican Governor of Maryland
Fall 2023 Pritzker Fellow
Seminar Series: "Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan: How We Broke Down Dysfunction & Rancor at One of the Most Politically Divisive Moments in a Generation (And Understanding When We Couldn’t)"
Larry Hogan is not a career politician. As a lifelong Marylander and small business owner who was fed up with sky-high taxes, politics as usual, and decades of one-party rule, he started Change Maryland, the largest non-partisan grassroots citizen organization in state history.
In 2014, out-numbered in party registration by more than 2-1, and outspent by more than 5-1, Larry Hogan pulled off the biggest upset in America on election night, becoming only the second Republican Governor elected in Maryland in 50 years.
Once in office, Governor Hogan quickly became an example of leadership for the nation, accomplishing what many believed was no longer possible: bipartisan, common sense solutions.
As Governor, Larry Hogan cut taxes for eight years in a row by $4.7 billion, including the largest tax cuts in state history. Overall, after inheriting a $5.1 billion structural budget deficit, the governor left office with a record $5.5 billion in reserves - a more than $10 billion swing. Under his leadership, Maryland produced the greatest economic turnaround in America, going from 49th out of 50 states to number six. He restored peace and order to Baltimore City during the riots of 2015, reduced the cost of health care premiums by over 30%, made historic investments in education, transportation infrastructure, and protecting the environment, and was the only Republican Governor in the country to overturn a Democratic gerrymandered map. He even achieved all this while overcoming a personal battle against cancer.
After four years of economic success and bipartisan progress in one of the bluest states in America, Governor Hogan was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term in 2018, making him only the second Republican to do so in the entire history of the state.
When COVID struck the United States in 2020, Governor Hogan led the nation’s governors through this crisis as Chairman of the National Governors Association. In Maryland, the governor’s decisive and balanced leadership helped save countless lives and livelihoods.
Regardless of party affiliation, Marylanders agree: Governor Hogan delivered results for his state. As Governor Hogan left office, polling consistently showed an overwhelming majority of all Republicans, Democrats and Independents - nearly 80% of all Marylanders - approve of the job he did, the highest of any governor in Maryland history and one of the highest of any governor in the nation.
Seminars
"Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan: How We Broke Down Dysfunction & Rancor at One of the Most Politically Divisive Moments in a Generation (And Understanding When We Couldn’t)"
Larry Hogan - a lifelong Republican - became governor of Maryland in 2014 in the greatest upset of that election cycle, winning a solidly blue state. He cruised to re-election in 2018, only the second Republican governor to earn two terms in the state’s history, and left office with the highest approval ratings of any prior governor in Maryland history. He is one of the few elected Republicans who has consistently stood up to former President Trump and does not support his re-election; he’s the national co-chair of No Labels, a third party group seeking to disrupt any rematch between Trump and President Biden. A politician who hews the middle but who was vastly outnumbered by Democrats, Hogan was determined to avoid the partisan dysfunction and incivility that marked the nation’s capital up the road. He received a daunting cancer diagnosis right after he was elected and governed the state while receiving 24 hours-a-day chemotherapy.
Hogan’s first term was marked by both crisis - the biggest disturbance in Baltimore in a generation - and the quotidian - infrastructure needs - and a bipartisan will to do things like rewrite the state’s gerrymandered political maps and lower taxes. What were the specific techniques his administration used to lower the temperature of partisan politics and work productively across the aisle, where did he make painful compromises and what were the areas impervious to such efforts?
Hogan’s second term was marked largely by the COVID-19 crisis and the social justice movements that engulfed the rest of the nation, but being next door to Washington, D.C. put a far greater onus on him than other state leaders as he was distinctly drawn into the Jan 6 crisis. Surrounded by Democratic leaders on both sides of the Potomac, stymied by the Trump administration, and facing citizens desperate for information, how did this all play out? Hear his candid behind-the-scenes tales from the front lines of crisis.