Advertisement Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to visit NH, intensifying speculation of a challenge to Trump Hogan scheduled to speak at ‘Politics and Eggs’ event April 23 Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Although he outwardly denies any interest in challenging President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, Maryland’s governor has scheduled a visit to New Hampshire to speak at a venue traditionally reserved for would-be presidents.Larry Hogan, Maryland’s two-term chief executive and a frequent critic of Trump, will appear at a Politics and Eggs breakfast at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on April 23. The visit was confirmed to WMUR by NHIOP director Neil Levesque and a spokesperson for the New England Council, which co-sponsors the speakers’ series.A formal announcement followed on Tuesday morning.Hogan was recently in Iowa, the home of the first presidential caucus. But he said he was there primarily for a policy event hosted by the National Governors Association. Hogan is the vice chair of the ostensibly nonpartisan group.His visit to New Hampshire – at a purely political setting steeped in more than two decades of presidential politics – ratchets interest in his plans to a higher level of intensity. Last month, Politics and Eggs was the venue at which Republican former Massachusetts William Weld announced the formation of an exploratory committee to pursue the possibility of challenging Trump for the nomination. Numerous Democratic candidates and potential candidates have appeared at Politics and Eggs events so far this year.Hogan criticized Trump during the recent partial shutdown of the federal government and, like Weld, has questioned the Republican National Committee’s stance of endorsing Trump and joining with his re-election campaign, and discouraging a primary challenge.After the Iowa trip, Hogan told the Baltimore Sun that challenging Trump was “not on my radar screen.” But in January, he said that “things have a way of changing” and he does not know “what the lay of the land is going to look like this summer, or in the fall.”New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Steve Stepanek, who co-chaired Trump's 2016 New Hampshire presidential campaign, reserved comment on Hogan’s visit Monday night.He noted that unlike Weld, who ran for vice president as a Libertarian in 2016, Hogan has been a lifelong Republican.“Perhaps he’s coming to New Hampshire to partake in spring skiing and the maple syrup season,” Stepanek said. “Beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see what he has to say.”