Former Republican Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan touted his response to the 2015 Baltimore riots in a statement shared with Daily Caller on Thursday.
Hogan, who served as Maryland’s Governor from 2015 to 2023 and is now running for Senate, oversaw a response to the 2015 riots that erupted in Baltimore when 25-year-old Freddie Gray suffered fatal injuries while in police custody.
“It was nine years ago this month. I had only been governor for 89 days when the worst violence in 47 years erupted in the city of Baltimore,” Hogan told the Daily Caller.
“I declared a State of Emergency, sending 4,000 members of the National Guard and 1,000 additional police officers into the city. We allowed for peaceful protests, but we immediately stopped the violence. And I walked the streets of Baltimore, meeting with faith leaders, community leaders, and the NAACP,” Hogan shared. (RELATED: Baltimore Protesters Adhere To Curfew)
“Baltimore City and all Maryland families deserve peace and safety in their communities. Politics can never come before public safety. That’s exactly how I served you as governor, and that is how I will serve you in the Senate,” he concluded.
In the wake of mass protests, Hogan temporarily moved his office and his cabinet from the state’s capital in Annapolis to Baltimore.
“The immediate need is to restore calm and peace to the city, make people feel safe,” Hogan said at the time, according to a video shared by the America United advocacy group.
Hogan is polling significantly ahead of his Republican opponents, tallying 69 percent of the vote for the upcoming May 14 GOP primary, according to Five Thirty-Eight. He’s also leading both of the top Democratic candidates in the most recent polls for the general election, according to Five Thirty-Eight.
Baltimore voters tabbed crime and violence as their top issue for the 2024 election, while voters statewide hold the issue in their top three, according to a recent poll from The Baltimore Sun, University of Baltimore and FOX45.
57 percent of polled voters across the state of Maryland said crime was affecting their quality of life, according to the poll.