Maryland Senate candidate former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Thursday released two campaign ads focused on reproductive rights that feature his three daughters and four granddaughters.
“When Larry Hogan married my mom, he became a father to three strong, independent women, and he gained our trust,” Jaymi Sterling, Hogan’s daughter, says in one of the new ads. “Now, once again, they’re attacking him as anti-women.”
Hogan’s youngest daughter Julie Kim says her dad “supports choice by restoring Roe in every state.”
The women say as a grandfather to four granddaughters, “we know you can trust him too.”
The second ad is titled “Girl Dad,” and highlights Hogan’s record protecting contraceptive access and equal pay as governor.
“As governor, he kept his promise to protect women’s rights, not only on equal pay, contraception and also who he appointed to senior staff in his cabinet and judges,” Jaymi Sterling says in the ad.
The ads come as Emily’s List, a group backing Democratic women who support abortion rights, said it would spend $2.2 million in the Maryland Senate race, NBC News reported. Attack ads funded by the group are set to take aim at Hogan over his stance on abortion.
In 2022, Hogan vetoed legislation that would expand abortion access in Maryland by allowing not only physicians but other medical providers the ability to provide the treatment. The Democratic-controlled state legislature overruled the veto.
While Maryland has consistently voted in Democratic senators in recent years, Hogan’s known record and likeability in the state after serving as governor for two terms have made for a closer race against his Democratic opponent, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
The Hill reached out to the Alsobrook’s campaign for comment and was directed to a statement from Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman.
“I was one of the many Democrats who stood up to then Governor Hogan when he threatened reproductive freedoms here in Maryland by vetoing critical legislation,” Lierman’s statement said. “It is truly outrageous that he thinks he can dupe Maryland women into believing he will support our reproductive rights when he has a lifetime record of opposing them.”
Recent polling shows Alsobrooks ahead of Hogan by 5 percentage points as she continues to struggle in name recognition among voters. According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average, Alsobrooks has a 4.3 point lead over Hogan.
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