Yes; if anything he had numerous advantages over Arnold who still won comfortably.
Riordan would have very likely won another term. In general, in 2006 popular GOP governors were not often voted out anyway, and even some unpopular ones survived. Rell, Perry, Lingle, all survived.
The Dem wave was strongest in House and Senate.
Bob Ehrlich
He was the only incumbent who lost. All of the other gubernatorial gains that year came from open seats.
I still don't completely understand why he lost despite being relatively popular. It was not partisanship alone, because Trump was way more unpopular in Maryland than Bush and Hogan won reelection by double digits.
Hogan was also not facing a fairly popular and well-known Mayor of Baltimore.
Yeah, it's forgotten because he was forgettable and not that successful as Governor but when he was Mayor of Baltimore O'Malley was a ridiculously hyped rising star, literally seen as presidential material. Hogan winning in 2014 killed him forever, much as Edwards winning in LA in 2015 destroyed Jindal's political career.
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