MANCHESTER – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told a crowd at Saint Anselm College Tuesday morning that he has not decided whether he wants to take on President Donald Trump in 2020.

If he decides to run, Hogan would be the second Republican who intends to run in the GOP primary. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld announced his candidacy in February.

But Hogan said he is seriously considering it and has visited 10 states already, but sees no reason to rush.

Starting his second term as Maryland’s governor, he talked at length about his state’s economic turnaround since his remarkable upset victory in 2015. He is only the second GOP governor in 50 years.

“Maryland is the bluest state in the country, and we were outspent 5-1,” he said. Political prognosticator Nate Silver said he had a 94 percent chance of losing.

Before entering politics Hogan, who is 62, started and ran several Maryland businesses, and as governor he took an economically depressed state “heading in the wrong direction,” into prosperity, he said, through bipartisan efforts to encourage business by cutting tolls, fees and taxes – getting “government off our backs and out of our pockets … while clearing away the tangle of regulatory undergrowth” all the while he was battling cancer.

Elected to a second term last year, he said he did that with the help of “voters who rejected divisive politics and voted for civility and common sense.”

As governor, he said, he and lawmakers worked for the common good.

“We argued without acrimony, compromised without political posturing … we simply practiced the art of the possible … and put people’s priorities before partisan interests,” and did not let “insults substitute for debate.”

Contrasting that to Washington’s dysfunction, he called it a place where “getting something done for the people is no longer a priority … neither side seems to want to make progress, while most of the country is “sick and tired of all that drama.”

During the question and answer session, Hogan said he does not agree with the National Republican Committee’s decision to back the current president.

“One hundred percent loyalty to our ‘dear leader’ does not sound like the traditional Republican party,” he said, and “stifling debate is bad.”

According to a University of New Hampshire poll this week, Hogan is favored by just one percent of likely Democrat voters in the Feb. 11 primary, with Bernie Sanders at the number one spot and Joe Biden, who is expected to announce his candidacy soon, taking number two. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is almost in a tie with the former vice president.

Hogan is also behind Bill Weld and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another Republican mulling a candidacy.

“I felt it was important to do my part to bring a little political diversity to Politics & Eggs,” he joked at the Tuesday breakfast, where five Democrats have been the featured speakers so far this year.

Seriously, he said other Republicans should enter the race and he wants to make the Republican Party into a bigger tent. The party has “shrunk down into a percentage of white males,” he said, contrasting that to his election win of Maryland’s suburban women and one-third of African-Americans.

Politics & Eggs was created by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm as a way to bring politicians to the state’s business community.

Democrats who have been here this year are South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, and California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California spoke before he declared his candidacy, while Weld announced the creation of an exploratory committee during his appearance.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared here in January and later announced he will not seek the presidency.

Kathy Cleveland may be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.