Republican Maryland Gov. Hogan says Trump looks “pretty weak” as 2020 vote nears: Larry Hogan, Maryland’s Republican governor, has told CBS News that President Donald Trump’s poll numbers are low as the 2020 election nears.

“I’m not saying he couldn’t win, but he’s pretty weak in the general election,” said Hogan, who has acted a lot like he’s open to the prospect of a long-shot primary challenge to the incumbent president.

Regarding the potential primary challenge, Hogan told CBS: “I would say I’m being approached from a lot of different people and I guess the best way to put it is, I haven’t thrown them out of my office.”

Last week, former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Bill Weld took a step toward pursuing a primary challenge against Trump in 2020.

Democratic congressman ousted by Ocasio-Cortez heads to K Street: Former New York Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley, the veteran lawmaker who lost his bid for re-election last year, has joined lobbying giant Squire Patton Boggs.

He was defeated last summer in a primary election by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, now an influential freshman congresswoman. Crowley was a high-ranking House member who had been considered a contender to take over leadership from California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Related:Ocasio-Cortez says the system is broken, and the internet goes wild

Former Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Bill Shuster also has joined Squire Patton Boggs after retiring rather than seeking re-election. The lobbying firm offered the following statement on its hires: “The skills and experience Bill and Joe bring will be an asset for clients all over the world who are seeking to navigate the challenges of modern-day Washington.”

“Russia can’t hack a piece of paper,” says Kamala Harris: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Tuesday issued a call for states to focus on election security and possibly adopt paper ballot measures, notes a Hill report.

“The way I kind of say it, half joking, is ‘Russia can’t hack a piece of paper,’” the senator from California told a crowd of New Hampshire voters.

Harris has supported the Secure Elections Act, a bill that stalled in the last Congress but would have required states to have backup paper ballots at the ready in order to receive federal funding for cybersecurity purposes, the report noted.

Details come out for mysterious group fighting proposed Sprint-T-Mobile merger: As a mysterious group called Protect America’s Wireless fights the proposed merger between T-Mobile TMUS, +1.64% and Sprint US:S , some details are coming out.

Incorporation records for the Consumer Choice Alliance, a nonprofit sponsoring Protect America’s Wireless, reveal that one of its directors was a lobbyist for some of T-Mobile’s top competitors in 2018, notes a Politico report that cites OpenSecrets.org findings.

The director, Moses Mercado of Ogilvy Government Relations, lobbied on behalf of AT&T T, -0.41% , Comcast CMCSA, +3.38% and Verizon VZ, +0.35% in 2018, and Mercado continued to represent AT&T and Verizon during the fourth quarter of the year as Protect America’s Wireless got off the ground.

Related:T-Mobile and Sprint executives defend their planned merger to Congress