The last time Maryland was represented by a Republican in the U.S. Senate, it was nearly four decades ago, and his name was Charles McCurdy “Mac” Mathias Jr.
Today, Mathias, who died in 2010, would be known by a different political title than Republican. He’d be considered a liberal Democrat. Today’s right-wing Republicans would want no part of him.
The question today is, which voters — Democrat or Republican — want a part of former Gov. Larry Hogan, who wants to be the first Republican U.S. senator from Maryland since Mathias.
There’s a terrific photograph of Mathias that used to grace a lobby wall at Chiaparelli’s Restaurant in Baltimore’s Little Italy.
It’s the day President Jimmy Carter came to town for lunch with First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and he invited former Mayor Tommy D’Alesandro (the elder), Mayor William Donald Schaefer, Gov. Harry Hughes, Sen. Paul Sarbanes and City Councilman Dominic “Mimi” DiPietro.
Democrats, every one of ‘em.
And Mathias, who was pals with every one of them.
They’re seated around a bountiful table, everyone smiling and convivial, not a scowl in sight.
It was a more civil time and a distant one, so distant that Marylanders had recently been served in the U.S. House of Representatives by a fellow known as Lawrence Hogan Sr.
He came out of Prince George’s County, and he was Larry Hogan Jr.’s daddy.
Senior was a man known to reach across political aisles. In the midst of Richard Nixon’s Watergate troubles, it was the Republican Hogan who saw what the Republican Nixon had done and said, the hell with political party, we’ve got to get this guy out of the White House.
His son now tells us he’d be the same kind of politician, willing to cross party lines when the cause is just. And he reminds us that as governor, he stood up to ex-President Donald Trump.
That was considered a just cause — by Democrats.
Hogan’s problem, as he runs against two-term Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, is that she keeps reminding voters about a wide variety of Hogan’s previous words.
They’re all about loyalty to the Republican Party.
The words are featured in TV spots run by Alsobrooks in which she makes the briefest of appearances at the very end, just to say she approves the ad.
The rest of it is all Hogan, repeatedly proclaiming his Republican Party loyalty.
In a state in which Democratic voters outnumber Republicans, Hogan’s not only fighting Alsobrooks but he’s up against history.
It’s a long time since Maryland elected a Republican to the Senate. Go back to that photograph of the day Jimmy Carter hosted lunch in Little Italy.
Carter’s the only one in the picture who’s still alive.
That’s how long it’s been since we’ve had a Maryland Republican in the Senate. And with the balance of power on the line in November’s election, there are plenty of Democratic voters who admire Hogan’s toughness against Donald Trump but are wary about testing party loyalty all over again.
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books, including “Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore” and “Michael Olesker’s Baltimore: If You Live Here, You’re Home.”
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