Angela Alsobrooks wins messy Democratic Senate primary in Maryland

GREENBELT, Maryland — Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks won Maryland’s Democratic primary Tuesday, taking her one step closer to making history as the state’s first Black senator.

Alsobrooks, 53, defeated three-term Rep. David Trone, who single-handedly made the contest the most expensive primary election in state history by dropping more than $60 million of his own fortune into the contest. She will take on popular former Gov. Larry Hogan, who won the Republican nomination Tuesday.

Alsobrooks won with a shoestring budget compared to Trone, but she ran a more disciplined campaign. She and her surrogates, which included nearly all of the state's federal delegation, repeatedly painted Trone as out of touch and someone who was using his personal wealth to buy the state’s open Senate seat. She cast herself as the stronger candidate to beat Hogan in November.

“On November 5, 2024, we are going to defeat Larry Hogan, keep Maryland blue, and keep our Senate under Democratic control — spread the word,” Alsobrooks tweeted after the Associated Press called the race Tuesday night, adding that “Republican extremists are already pouring millions of dollars into Maryland hoping they could flip our state red.”

Hogan congratulated Alsobrooks on her win, saying he knows her well and “value[s] our respectful relationship.” A former two-term governor who is arguably the most popular political figure in the state, Hogan will be a formidable opponent. He cruised to the Republican nomination after facing little resistance in the primary and enters the general election campaign with near universal name I.D. — and a reputation as a critic of former President Donald Trump.

In his victory speech on Tuesday night, Hogan sought to cast himself as an independent voice, beholden to neither party. And he tried to neutralize one of Democrats’ most potent issues by assuaging any fears his victory would mean another GOP vote for a national abortion ban in the Senate.

"To the women of Maryland, you have my word — I will continue to protect your right to make your own reproductive health decisions, just as I did as your governor for eight years," he said.

He also played up his cross-party appeal in the state.

"I'm gonna run the same way I always run, which is, you know, appeal to Republicans, Democrats and independents," he told reporters on Tuesday night. "I'm just gonna keep being the same guy that they've always voted for."

Only three Black women have ever served in the U.S. Senate, and there have never been two at once. If Alsobrooks wins in November, she would likely join Delaware's Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is widely favored to win an open Senate seat there this fall.

But Alsobrooks rarely focused on being a potential trailblazer during the primary. Instead she pitched herself as a polished and experienced candidate who has brought federal dollars for her majority-Black county, including touting her role in bringing the new headquarters of the FBI and working to secure a public-private partnership to build more schools there.

She will need to unite a party after a contentious primary against Trone, 68, who blanketed the airwaves to boost his candidacy. Trone painted himself as the more progressive of the two candidates, leaning into his history of supporting criminal justice reform and attacking Alsobrooks for her role as a former prosecutor.

But a big liability for Trone was his tendency to make gaffes and the awkward way he talked about race. He once uttered a racial slur in an attempt to use the term “bugaboo” but instead used a similar-sounding and dated slur used to demean Black people. He apologized and said it was a mistake.

He also inflamed racial tensions when he questioned Alsobrooks’ qualifications. One of his allies suggested in a TV ad that she needed “training wheels,” and Trone also referred to some of her supporters as "low level" endorsers. A letter, signed mostly by Black women, said the comments were offensive.

Going into the general election, Hogan has near-universal name I.D. in the state. But even his allies acknowledge the hurdles for a Republican looking to win a Senate seat in the blue state.

"It's going to be tough. He is going to have people pull the lever for both Joe Biden and him,” said Boyd Rutherford, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland who ran alongside Hogan in 2014 and 2018. “He will be the free agent that both sides will need to get to make things happen. He will become like Joe Manchin or John McCain, and have a lot more power in the Senate than another Democrat.”