Trump Second Term Would Be 'Bad for the Country,' Says GOP Governor Larry Hogan

Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said on Sunday that former President Donald Trump should not run for president again in 2024.

Hogan, a moderate Republican who has emerged as a leading Trump critic within the GOP, said a second Trump term would be "bad for the country" while appearing on Fox News Sunday.

"I think that'd be bad for the party and bad for president Trump and bad for the country. I don't think he's going to run, and my advice would be that he did not run," Hogan said.

Hogan has previously criticized Trump and other Republicans over the COVID-19 pandemic and for baselessly claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He has called for Republicans to work harder to appeal to moderate voters.

When host Bret Baier asked if he plans to seek the presidency in 2024, Hogan said he has not made a decision.

"I'm going to be governor until January of '23 and then I'm going to take a look at what the options are after that," Hogan said.

Hogan has long criticized the former president. In November, while appearing on CNN, he cautioned against Trump's possible involvement in the 2022 midterms, when Republicans aim to take majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate.

"Well I'm concerned," he said. "It's obviously an issue to contend with. And if the former president interferes with primaries and tries to help nominate folks that are unelectable in swing districts and purple states, that's gonna hurt.

Hogan himself easily won re-election in solidly Democratic Maryland in 2018—a year when Democrats made many electoral gains—even as Trump and other Republicans lost the state by wide margins in 2016 and 2020.

During a May appearance on NBC News, Hogan called Trump's first term the "worst four years" ever for the Republican Party.

"I think we've got to get back to winning elections again, and we have to be able to have a Republican Party that appeals to a broader group of people. We have to get back to having a bigger tent as [former President Ronald] Reagan talked about and not continuing to—look, we had the worst four years we've had, ever, in the Republican Party [under Trump]," Hogan said.

Trump, meanwhile, has teased the idea of running for a second term. He said earlier this month on The Hugh Hewitt Show that if he doesn't run, his base would be "very angry," but he has not made a formal announcement.

"I'll discuss that subject right after the midterms," he said.

If he does run in 2024, polls show him as the favorite to win the GOP nomination, with some polls showing him leading Biden.

Newsweek reached out to the Office of Former President Trump on Sunday for comment but did not hear back by publication. This story will be updated with any response.