Former governor of Maryland will not run for US president

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Maryland governor Larry Hogan said on Sunday he would not seek the 2024 Republican U.S. presidential nomination, avoiding inadvertently boosting Donald Trump’s chances by creating a crowded field of “multicar pileup” candidates favored for the former president’s candidacy.

Hogan, who served eight years as Maryland governor that ended in January, is considered a moderate in a party that has drifted to the right.

Trump won his party’s 2016 nomination after facing off against 16 other Republican candidates. In that large field, various candidates have split the anti-Trump vote in state-by-state battles for the nomination, allowing him to win attrition. Trump went on to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton, but lost his 2020 re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden, who is expected to run again in 2024.

“To be a successful governing party again, we must move on from Mr. Trump,” Hogan wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday. “The risk is too high for me to be part of another multicar pileup that could potentially help Mr. Trump regain the nomination.”

Trump announced his 2024 candidacy in November. He has announced one of his main rivals for the Republican nomination — former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — although activist investor Vivek Ramaswamy has also entered the race.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are also considering challenging Trump for the nomination.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammad; Editing by Will Dunham)