Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the Republican running in the competitive Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), said on Tuesday that he would try to work with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on matters where they share common ground. Still, he emphasized that he and Maryland’s junior senator are worlds apart on the issue of support for Israel. 

Hogan made the comment at a virtual town hall organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington after being asked how he’d work with Van Hollen, whom the former governor has publicly admonished for his continued criticism of Israel’s military campaigns. 

“I worked with Sen. Van Hollen the whole time that I was governor and we had a pretty decent relationship in that we were kind of Team Maryland. We were working on things like trying to attract businesses or trying to address an issue that had a state involvement and a federal involvement. I can tell you that I’m really perplexed and concerned that Sen. Van Hollen, who I respected and worked with, why he has become so hostile. He’s, I believe, the most anti-Israel member of the entire Senate, he and [Sen.] Bernie Sanders (I-VT), so we have a completely different position on that issue,” Hogan said.

“But I was governor through three presidents,” he continued. “I worked with President [Barack] Obama, with [President Donald] Trump and with [President Joe] Biden, and I’ll try my best to work with Van Hollen as a fellow senator. But I think on the position on defending Israel and supporting our greatest ally, I think I have a completely different position than Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks.”

Hogan is facing Alsobrooks, a Democrat who serves as Prince George’s County executive, in the expensive and closely-watched contest. The former governor has worked to differentiate himself from Van Hollen, especially on Israel and Middle East policy, on the campaign trail and made a point to note that the senator has championed Alsobrooks’ candidacy. 

Asked on Tuesday if he supported the U.S. deploying the THAAD antimissile system and 100 personnel to the Middle East to support Israel and other allies in the region, Hogan responded: “I think that was great. I think we absolutely need to do that. Obviously, the region is getting more and more dangerous, and I think it’s going to escalate.”

“We want to try to do what we can to protect Israel because I think shortly we’re going to have quite a bit of incoming, and that missile system can help save a lot of lives,” Hogan added. 

The Republican Senate hopeful went on to say that he believes that, “The policies toward Iran have been really complete failures. I’m not sure [former President Donald] Trump should have pulled out of the nuclear agreement, and I’m quite sure that the Biden administration should not have released all of the billions of dollars that they gave back to Iran to use to sponsor terror around the world and with their proxies to not only attack Israelis, but also Americans. So I think we’ve got to take them more seriously. We’ve got to have a more determined policy.”