• Larry Hogan has made $157,000 from paid speeches since the end of his term as Maryland governor.
  • Some of that money came after he announced his Senate campaign in February.
  • His campaign says he doesn't plan to give any more paid speeches while he runs for Senate.

Larry Hogan has made $157,000 from paid speeches since the end of his term as Governor of Maryland, according to financial disclosure documents filed on Sunday.

One of those speeches — a $28,000 appearance alongside former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe at the Self Storage Association's National Spring Conference — came after he launched his GOP Senate campaign on February 9.

"Governor Hogan was committed to doing a bipartisan event with his friend Terry McAuliffe that brings hundreds of visitors to Maryland, and felt it important to keep that commitment," Hogan spokesman Michael Ricci told Business Insider.

Hogan was also paid $24,000 for a speech he gave to a gathering of Canadian CEOs on January 23, though he didn't receive the payment until February 14, after his campaign launch.

Ricci told Business Insider on Monday that Hogan does not plan to give any more paid speeches while campaigning for Maryland's US Senate seat.

"It's not uncommon to cash in on speeches between leaving government and running for a higher office," said Jordan Libowitz, communication director for Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW). "It is uncommon to do it as a candidate."

Indeed, plenty of figures in both parties have given — and faced scrutiny — for paid speeches in the past, the most famous case being Hillary Clinton. But politicians typically stop giving those speeches after they become active candidates in order to avoid the appearance of being influenced by special interests.

Business Insider has previously reported on members of both parties, including GOP Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers and Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, enriching themselves via the so-called "revolving door" between the public and private sectors.

Here are the six speech payments Hogan has received in the last two years:

  • July 10, 2023 - $34,000 from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association

  • July 10, 2023 - $37,000 from Jobs for the Future,

  • September 25, 2023 - $24,000 from the National Multifamily Housing Council

  • November 30, 2023 - $10,000 from LG Ad Solutions

  • February 14, 2024 - $24,000 from the Business Council of Canada

  • March 13, 2024 - $28,000 from the Self-Storage Association

Hogan, a moderate Republican who served as Governor of Maryland from 2015 to 2023, is already quite wealthy. According to the disclosure filed Sunday, he's worth somewhere between $12.3 million and $34 million, much of which comes from real estate holdings across Maryland.

As governor, his official salary ranged between $165,000 and $180,000, though he continued to make millions from his real estate holdings while in office.

Hogan's surprise entry into the Senate race, which came after years of dismissing the idea of serving in the upper chamber, was a win for Senate Republicans.

Though he faces an uphill climb in the deep-blue state of Maryland, Hogan was a popular governor, and Democrats will have to spend more resources to defend the state's Senate seat in a year where they already face a tough fight to retain control of the upper chamber.

Read the original article on Business Insider