Larry Hogan - 62nd Governor of Maryland, Timeline and Childhood

Larry Hogan was born Lawrence Joseph Hogan, Jr. on 25th May, 1956 in Washington D.C. His father Lawrence J. Hogan was a member of the U.S. Congress and represented Maryland’s 5th district.

He spent childhood at Landover in Maryland and received elementary education at Saint Ambrose Catholic School, and later went on to attend DeMatha Catholic High School.

When he was in the prime of his teens, his parents’ divorced in 1972. His mother won his custody and they moved to Florida. There he studied at Father Lopez Catholic High School and graduated in 1974.

For the following four years he studied at Florida State University. During his university years he worked in the Florida State Legislature. In 1978 he passed out with a B.A in Government and Political Science.

In 1978, he assisted his father in campaigning for Prince George’s County Executive. He would distribute pamphlets from door to door. After seeing his father run for election as County, his interest in politics increased.

After his father won the election, he appointed Larry as an intergovernmental liaison at a low salary. Larry gained perspective of bipartisan cooperation with the help of his father. He managed his duties well, the experience he gathered there helped shape his political career.

After his father completed his term, Larry turned towards business. On learning all about the real estate industry, he founded his own business called ‘Hogan Companies’ in 1985.

His company focused on raising economy, brokerage and investments. His shrewd entrepreneurial skills made him one of the leading real estate companies of Maryland providing numerous job opportunities.

After eighteen successful years as president of ‘Hogan Companies’, he joined public service on request of his dear friend and governor, Bob Ehrlich. He was offered the post of ‘Secretary of Appointments’ in Bob’s administration.

He served in the administration till 2007 and then went back to his business with no intention of returning to public service.

However, in 2011 out of disappointment for a good leader in Maryland he chaired the ‘Change Maryland’ organisation. He travelled to various places in Maryland, listening to grievances and putting forth solutions for tax relief and budgeting, and soon became the face of this organisation.

He announced that he would run for the office of governor in 2014. He won the Republican primary election with a majority of 43 percent.

On 4th November, 2014 he defeated Democratic representative, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown to become the first republic governor to be elected from Anne Arundel County after a 100 years. He won with 51.2 percent votes in his favour.

Upon taking his seat, he was applauded on his announcement of fiscal restraint for the growth of private sector, provision of jobs and improving economy.

Larry set aside 1.97 million dollars for the construction of highways and bridges in both urban and rural areas, which he had promised his voters during his campaigns.

He also created history when he reduced tolls after almost 50 years, making sure to cut taxes for retired individuals, and refund cheques to natives who were overtaxed.

He helped boost the creation of posts and vacancies in both private and public sectors, creating 74,000 jobs never generated before in the state.

He supported the improvement of education. During his campaigning he had stressed that it was the most vital element for a successful society. Hence, in 2015 he granted more than 12.4 billion dollars to K-12 public schools.

Hogan dealt with the Baltimore riots efficiently. After the untimely death of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore resident, owing to a spinal injury during an arrest, violent protests broke out in Maryland. He established control by declaring ‘State of Emergency’ and called in the ‘National Guard’ to restore order.

During the Republican Primary Presidential elections of 2015, he supported Chris Christine over Donald Trump. Though Trump went on to win the election, Larry didn’t extent any notable support to the Republican nominee during the Presidential elections in 2016.

In August, 2016 he issued an executive order establishing the date for beginning school after Labour Day. However, members of the educational department were not in agreement with this order as it would cause more brain-drain after a lengthy summer break.

He has been called a “pragmatist” at his best. In order to decrease pollution he imposed the ‘Maryland Agriculture Phosphorous Initiative’ in February 2015. He took the help of specialists in order to frame environmental regulations for the protection of ‘Chesapeake Bay’.

He passed two regulations for farmers. The first was to provide farmers with sufficient time to reduce the use of phosphorus on their farms. The second was to immediately pull up farmers who were using excessive phosphorus.

He also cancelled the ‘Baltimore Red Line’ project that was being funded by the centre and state for many years and transferred its finances to the construction of roads in Maryland.

Hogan met Yumi in 2001, and the couple got married in 2004. She is a Korean-American artist and a professor at Maryland Institute College of Art.

Yumi has three daughters from her previous marriage. Hogan shares a great father-daughter bond with all three girls – Kim, Jaymi and Julie.

During Hogan’s campaign as governor, his daughter featured in an advertisement refuting allegations by democrats that her father had a hostile social agenda for women.

In the last week of June 2015, Hogan was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma after a bone marrow test affirmed that he was presently battling cancer in its third stage but he didn’t exhibit many symptoms of the ailment.

Since his cancer was one that is highly curable with chemotherapy, he immediately began a rigorous schedule of chemo treatments. After five months another scan rendered him cancer-free.

Hogan’s brother, Patrick is a representative of the ‘Frederick County’ district in the ‘House of Delegates’, and is often confused as Hogan’s son due to their age difference. While Hogan is 58 his brother Patrick is only 35.