It’s a question that has crossed many Americans’ minds in recent months: What does the future of the Republican party look like? 

For this week’s episode of The Pulse, Katie sits down with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R).  “We’re in the beginning of what is going to be a long and difficult battle for the soul of the Republican party,” Hogan told Katie. 

A recent poll found that 54% of Republican voters would back Trump in the primary election. But as a Republican governing a prominently blue state, Hogan argues that Republicans cannot continue to alienate large swaths of the electorate. 

“We’ve got to find a message that can appeal to more people. Successful politics is about addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division,” the Maryland governor said. 

When asked about the 2022 midterm elections, Gov. Hogan stressed that Republicans need to nominate people who are capable of winning the election. “QAnon is not going to get elected governor,” Hogan explains. The Maryland governor told Katie that nominating people who cannot appeal to large portions of the electorate is hurting the Republican party and will ultimately benefit the Democrats. 

Looking ahead to the a possible presidential run in 2024, Gov. Hogan said he has not ruled it out. “If I felt as if I could run a credible challenge and could potentially take the party back on track, it’ll certainly be something we’ll take a look at,” Hogan said. 

For now, the Maryland governor says he focused on his day job of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. He stressed the importance of working with both sides of the aisle in a bipartisan way. Gov. Hogan just recently signed a $1 billion coronavirus relief act that passed nearly unanimously in the state legislature, with only one Republican voting against it. 

But the Maryland governor believes there’s more to be done when it comes to vaccine rollout plans. “We are sticking 30,000 shots in arms a day and are only receiving 12,000 from the federal government,” Gov. Hogan said. “We could do 100,000 a day if we had the vaccine supply, but it’s just too slow.” 

Gov. Hogan along with three other governors met with President Biden earlier this week to discuss finding common ground between Republicans and Democrats on a Covid-19 relief package. “[President Biden] said very sincerely that he does want to work in a bipartisan way,” Gov. Hogan said.