Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks celebrates her victory during her election night party at Martins Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Maryland, on May 14, 2024. | Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Right now, the U.S. Senate is one general election away from having its first Black woman senator from Maryland, and only the second Black woman to hold a Senate seat from any state currently.
Meet Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Despite going into her primary for Maryland’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination as a lesser-known politician, Alsobrooks ran such an impressive campaign against her opponent, Rep. David Trone, a wealthy, white and male liquor store magnate, that she was able to defeat him even though he spent more than $61 million on his campaign to defeat her, according to HuffPost.
Actually, the Democrats have a chance to send two more Black women to the U.S. Senate, where they would join the only current Black woman to hold a seat, Laphonza Butler (D-California.) Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware is running unopposed for the nomination to succeed Democrat Tom Carper, who is retiring. Unfortunately, Alsobrooks won’t have it that easy.
Before the 53-year-old (bruh, Black really don’t crack) can make history, she’ll have to defeat Maryland’s former governor, Larry Hogan, who is widely viewed as a moderate Republican, even though his legislative pen has a tendency to contradict the words that come out of his mouth, particularly, when it comes to the subject of abortion rights.
According to the Washington Post, as governor, Hogan vetoed legislation to expand abortion access in Maryland, which might make his words ring hollow when he said Tuesday night during his victory party for winning the Republican nomination, “Let me set the record straight: To the women of Maryland, you have my word that I will continue to protect your right to make your own reproductive choices.” (Just sayin’—it appears that the word “continue” is being used pretty loosely here.)
Still, Hogan also promised not to be “just another Republican on Capitol Hill,” and to “stand up to the current president, the former president, to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.” But, as the Post noted, Hogan never had to run for office in league with a Republican party that has all but completely surrendered itself to the idiocracy of Donald Trump and the MAGA world. If the last handful of years has taught us anything, it’s that so-called moderate Republicans do not end up being very popular with the party, which has only managed to delve further into the extreme far-right since the Orange Menace first took office in 2016, and, certainly, since he lost in 2020.
Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Larry Hogan and his wife, Yumi Hogan, greet supporters after he won the Republican nomination in the Maryland primary election, at the Crowne Plaza Annapolis on May 14, 2024, in Annapolis, Maryland. | Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Meanwhile, Alsobrooks is taking the opportunity to argue to her constituents that Hogan isn’t the bipartisan moderate he portrays himself as.
From the Post:
Alsobrooks, at her own celebration Tuesday, seized the opportunity to cast Hogan as an ally of the current GOP leadership, labeling him as “BFF” (best friends forever) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) and saying, “Donald Trump’s Republican Party wants to flip this seat.”
“Let’s be extremely clear about who Larry Hogan is,” said Alsobrooks, before reminding her audience of his abortion access veto and that he canceled a $2.9 billion transit line that would have crossed Baltimore.
For all his posturing as an independent voice, Hogan still needs to assemble a coalition that includes both Republicans who are turned off by his criticism of Trump and those in the GOP who are repelled by the former president’s hold over their party.
Hogan also reportedly opposed gradually increasing the minimum wage in Maryland to $15 and hour, which, at this point, is still not an adequate living wage.
But what of Alsobrooks and her policy ideas? What does her record as a county executive in Maryland say about the kind of Senator she would be if elected in November?
Well, let’s start with a little look at her background:
As executive, she secured investment to expand Metro service with the Blue Line corridor, whipped up state resources to boost local health-care access and championed efforts to relocate the FBI headquarters to Prince George’s, among other wins. She also oversaw the opening of several mental health facilities in the county, redirecting $20 million to build a behavioral health center in Lanham with funds originally intended for a new police training facility.
According to Alsobrooks’ campaign, she “will co-sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act, a crucial step towards establishing federal legal protection for the right to provide and access abortion care,” on her first day in office if elected.
The campaign also lists agriculture as one of its top policy priorities and promises that Alsobrooks is “committed to ensuring our farmers and fishers, from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore, have the resources they need to cultivate and grow their business,” and that she will “strongly support nutrition assistance programs that ensure those in need have access to high quality, fresh food grown by our Maryland farmers.”
Alsobrooks is also promising major investments in education, the fight against climate change, racial equality and protections for the LGBTQ+ community, gun safety, healthcare, and immigration reform that doesn’t involve the constant dehumanizing of undocumented migrants that has become a staple in the Republican platform, especially with Trump at the party’s helm.
Regardless of the uphill battle she still faces in defeating Hogan, Alsobrooks is expressing confidence that she will be victorious in November, although, she also warned that “Republican extremists are already pouring millions of dollars into Maryland hoping they could flip our state red.”
“On November 5, 2024, we are going to defeat Larry Hogan, keep Maryland blue, and keep our Senate under Democratic control — spread the word,” she tweeted Tuesday, along with a link to where supporters can donate to her campaign.
Good luck, Angela Alsobrooks, and may the people be with you!
SEE ALSO:
Laphonza Butler Selected As Dianne Feinstein’s ‘Interim’ Senate Replacement
Failure To Advance Women’s Health Protection Act Puts Spotlight On Absence Of Black Women Senators
