Governor Hogan delivered an address at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was joined on stage with Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Following are excerpts from the address:
On Why the Republican Party Needs a New Direction: “Last week, Biden said he’s not going to change any of his policies these next two years. He has apparently learned nothing from last week’s election.
Our party can not afford to make that same mistake.
Look, I’ve always been a guy who tells it like it is. So let me just give it to you straight tonight.
A party that lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections, and that couldn’t even beat Joe Biden, is desperately in need of a course correction.
We should give Donald Trump all the credit he deserves for his accomplishments in office. He cut taxes, unleashed the power of our domestic energy production, nominated great justices to the supreme court, and his policies for Israel were the strongest we’ve ever had.
Trump said we would be winning so much we’d get tired of winning. Well, I’m sick and tired of our party losing. This is the third election in a row that we lost and should have won.
Three strikes – you’re out.
If you repeatedly lose to a really bad team, it is time for new leadership. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
We have a lot of talented leaders and voices in the Republican party. Many of them are here at RJC this weekend.
Last week, the voters sent a clear message that they want to turn the page.
It’s time for the GOP to move forward, not to keep looking backward. To grow the tent, not shrink it.”
Full text below:
Thank you very much. Shabbat Shalom.
It’s great to be here with all of you. I want to thank Senator Norm Coleman, Matt Brooks, and the RJC for this opportunity.
It is truly an honor to share the stage tonight with Senator Hagerty, Secretary Pompeo, and especially with my friend Vice President Mike Pence.
I had the pleasure of getting to know Mike when we served together on the Executive Committee of the Republican Governors Association.
He is one of the most honorable men I have ever known, and I want to sincerely thank him for his incredible service to the nation.
I just came from attending the RGA conference in Florida.
I’m happy to report that every single one of our 15 incumbent Republican governors was re-elected, and we picked up a Democratic seat by electing Joe Lombardo here in Nevada.
That’s the good news.
But, with the complete failures of the Democrats in Washington, 2022 should have been a huge red tidal wave. Instead, it was barely a ripple.
Voters did reward common sense conservatives who focused on the issues that Americans cared about, like the economy, crime, and education.
But, frankly, swing voters took a look at some of our nominees and decided it was not what they were looking for.
Common sense conservatives can and do win anywhere. We have already proven that.
In 2014, I was a small businessman who had never held elective office, who was completely fed up with the far-left direction of my state.
Not a soul believed that it was remotely possible for a Republican to win in the bluest state in America.
But we pulled off the biggest surprise upset in America, and then we did something that rarely ever happens in politics.
We actually did exactly what we said we would do.
We changed the entire mission of state government to be unabashedly pro-jobs and pro-business.
We eliminated or rewrote thousands of job-killing regulations.
I’m the only Republican governor in America who got an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to cut taxes eight years in a row, and we did it by $4.7 billion dollars, including the largest tax cuts in state history this year.
We turned a $5.1 billion dollar deficit into the largest surplus in state history. We took our state’s overall economic performance from 49th out of 50 states to number six, the biggest economic turnaround in America.
We strengthened our already strong relationship with Israel by prohibiting our state government from entering into any contracts with any business unless that business certifies that they will not engage in a boycott of Israel.
Maryland has stood steadfast in solidarity with Israel and against anti-semitism and the BDS movement.
When Democrats pandered to the far-left dangerous lunacy of “defund the police,” I was the first elected leader in America to speak out loudly against it.
The reality is that our police are underfunded and under attack. To reverse the rising tide of violent crime, we need to stop demonizing and sabotaging the dedicated men and women who risk their lives every single day to keep the rest of us safe, which is why I enacted a re-fund the police initiative that invested half a billion dollars more into state and local police.
In 2015, I had only been governor for 89 days when the worst violence in 47 years erupted in our largest city of Baltimore.
The mayor said she wanted to give the rioters “room to destroy.”
President Obama called me as I was on the way into the burning city and warned me not to inflame the situation.
I said, “Mr. President, thank you for your advice, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep the people of Baltimore safe.”
I immediately declared a state of emergency and sent 4,000 members of the national guard and 1,000 additional police officers into the city.
We followed the Reagan Doctrine of peace through strength. We allowed for peaceful protests, but we immediately stopped the violence.
And then I walked the streets of Baltimore, meeting with faith leaders, community leaders, and the NAACP to lower the temperature.
In the summer of 2020, when cities all across America were facing unrest, Baltimore was peaceful. And city residents worked with us to keep Baltimore safe.
In 2018, while Republicans were getting wiped out all across the country in our deep blue state, in a big blue year, I became only the second Republican governor to be re-elected in the entire 242-year history of our state.
We did just as well with Republicans and conservatives as Donald Trump did, but I ran 45 points ahead of him because we also won suburban women, Asians, Hispanics, young voters, and over 30% of the black vote against the national president of the NAACP.
We completely debunked the myth that the way you vote is pre-determined by the color of your skin, where you live, where you were born, or where you worship.
We succeeded by growing the tent and by convincing voters we had the right ideas and the competence to actually get things done.
Now, the stakes of this next election could not possibly be higher.
Joe Biden is a historically unpopular and failed president. And over 70% of Americans believe that our country is headed in the wrong direction.
Joe Biden said he would govern from the center and unite the country, but instead, he caters to the far-left extremes of his party and flails from crisis to crisis, showing weakness to the world.
America is beset by out-of-control inflation, an energy crisis is hurting struggling families and small businesses, and violent crime is devastating our cities and communities.
Around the world, America’s enemies are emboldened and on the march.
After the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, our allies question whether they should still trust us, and our enemies question whether they should still fear us.
While the American people suffer, the far-left seeks to further divide us. They demonize the brave men and women of law enforcement.
They attack the entrepreneurs and the businesses who create the jobs and look down upon the men and women who work hard every single day to keep our economy running.
They talk about America and Israel as forces for oppression instead of as the greatest forces for freedom that the world has ever known.
Last week, Biden said he’s not going to change any of his policies these next two years. He has apparently learned nothing from last week’s election.
Our party can not afford to make that same mistake.
Look, I’ve always been a guy who tells it like it is. So let me just give it to you straight tonight.
A party that lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections, and that couldn’t even beat Joe Biden, is desperately in need of a course correction.
We should give Donald Trump all the credit he deserves for his accomplishments in office. He cut taxes, unleashed the power of our domestic energy production, nominated great justices to the supreme court, and his policies for Israel were the strongest we’ve ever had.
Trump said we would be winning so much we’d get tired of winning. Well, I’m sick and tired of our party losing. This is the third election in a row that we lost and should have won.
Three strikes – you’re out.
If you repeatedly lose to a really bad team, it is time for new leadership. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
We have a lot of talented leaders and voices in the Republican party. Many of them are here at RJC this weekend.
Last week, the voters sent a clear message that they want to turn the page.
It’s time for the GOP to move forward, not to keep looking backward. To grow the tent, not shrink it.
Successful politics is about addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division. And we have been doing far too much subtracting and dividing.
We need to stand up for the exhausted majority of Americans who are completely fed up and ready for a change.
We need a hopeful, positive vision for America that appeals to more voters.
We need to convince swing voters that we have the best ideas and solutions.
Excuses, lies, and toxic politics will not win elections or restore America. Only real leadership will do that.
Look, I don’t come from the performative arts school of politics.
I come from the get-to-work and get-things done school of politics, and I’ll work with anyone to do the peoples’ business.
I think America needs some workhorses, not more show ponies.
It’s time for less talk and more action.
Over the past eight years just down the road from our nation’s capital, we have already shown a better path forward. And if we can do that in Maryland, then there is no place in America where those very same principles will not succeed.
Despite our imperfections and all of the serious challenges we face, America remains the greatest nation on earth.
People from all across the world still yearn to come here, to become Americans. The rest of the world still looks to us for leadership and inspiration.
Just ask yourself, even on our darkest days, where on earth would you rather live than the United States of America?
Americans are not tired of freedom and democracy. They’re tired of failed leadership.
They haven’t given up on the values that make our nation great. They’re just fed up with politicians who put their self-interest before America.
I can tell you this: I am not about to give up on the Republican party or on America. None of us can.
I still believe that America’s best days are ahead of us.
And that there is a better path forward if only we have the courage to seize it.
Thank you.
God bless you.
And may God bless the United States of America.