MAKING THEIR IMPRESSIONS
Angela Alsobrooks isn’t running as if she’s behind in Maryland’s Democratic primary. Instead, she chose not to turn up the volume over the weekend in the only televised debate, while David Trone defended his $41M in self-funding as polls show the third-te
In the only televised forum in Maryland’s U.S. Senate campaign, Angela Alsobrooks presented herself as a candidate comfortable with her standing and not needing to play catch-up in the weeks remaining before the May 14 primary.
Independent polls indicate otherwise, but Alsobrooks says she and David Trone are locked in “a statistical tie” in the Democratic nominating contest for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring incumbent, Ben Cardin.
Alsobrooks, the Prince
George’s County executive, did go on the offensive Friday night to the extent of repeating her past criticisms of Trone, a third-term congressman and the co-founder of the Total Wine & More retail chain who has largely selffunded his campaign. She told viewers that Trone has made the race “about money” by spending more than $41 million since last year, and that he contributed to anti-abortion Republican officeholders around the country. Trone has said the donations were made for business rather than political reasons.
Her comments followed the accusation a day earlier by EMILY’S List, a national organization and key Alsobrooks
ally, that Trone had made “dismissive comments on gender diversity.” The organization said in a news release that he exhibited “a disturbing pattern of tone-deafness and indifference” when asked in a recent interview about the significance of electing a woman to Maryland’s all-male delegation in Washington.
It was the sharpest attack yet on Trone by the group, which funds women supporting abortion rights, and political observers wondered if it was a prelude to Alsobrooks going after Trone aggressively when they met in the forum sponsored by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 and the University of Baltimore’s Schaefer Center for Public Policy.
But Alsobrooks chose not to turn up the volume by introducing new critiques of her opponent. Her campaign officials said in interviews that they are sticking with their core strategy of essentially introducing Alsobrooks, who like Trone is making her first run for statewide office, to as many voters as possible and counting on her making a positive impression.
“We’re confident we have the resources in the final three weeks of this race to reach the people we need to reach to win this thing,” said Connor Lounsbury, a senior
campaign adviser.
Trone leads Alsobrooks 48% to 29%, according to an April 7-10 poll sponsored by The Sun, FOX45 and the UB Schaefer Center. Trone’s lead dropped to 50% to 38% when the 600 Democratic primary respondents were asked to choose only between those two.
Alsobrooks told reporters after the forum that she had been closing the gap in recent weeks. Only 42% of the Democratic primary voters surveyed said they had firmly made up their minds.
At the forum, the candidates stood behind lecterns and answered questions from panelists inside a FOX45 studio that was otherwise quiet because there was no studio audience, only some campaign officials and VIPs.
Trone declared that he is the best Democratic candidate to take on Larry Hogan, a popular former governor who will likely be the Republican nominee, in the November general election.
“Not one poll has ever said my opponent can beat Larry Hogan, because she won’t,” Trone said. “I have the resources to beat Larry Hogan. I have the persona to win across the state, to win the Eastern Shore, to win in Southern Maryland, to win big in Western Maryland. All of these different areas are 31% of the vote total. They add up.”
Steve Raabe, owner of OpinionWorks of Annapolis, which has conducted polls for The Sun since 2007, said in an interview that he had expected Alsobrooks to be more aggressive Friday.
“Judging by tonight’s debate, she does have a very likable, approachable persona,” Raabe said. “From what she said — and it felt earnest — she doesn’t think she’s down in the race. But it’s the time to be tough and draw contrasts. There is almost no difference between these two on the issues.”
Asked after the forum if she was avoiding “going negative” on Trone, Alsobrooks told The Sun: “I believe I have distinguished myself from Congressman Trone. I spoke about my record and I pointed out the parts of his record that I thought were relevant for people to understand. And the public will assess that information.”
Since Democrats control the Senate 51-49, Maryland’s general election could be pivotal in determining which party will hold the majority beginning next year.
Hogan beat Trone, 53% to 40%, and Alsobrooks, 54% to 36% in a hypothetical matchup in The Sun/ FOX45/UB poll. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll a month ago also found Hogan leading either Trone or Alsobrooks by double digits. It said 34% of registered Democrats favored Trone and 27% preferred Alsobrooks in the primary.
UB professor John Willis, who was Maryland secretary of state in the administration of former Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening, said it could have been risky Friday for Alsobrooks to come on too strong.
“I think what she was hoping to do is to show her own strengths. When candidates start flailing and yelling and screaming, people don’t hear the substance,” said Willis. “The overly aggressive approach in a televised debate can come can come off a little off-putting if it doesn’t make sense.”
Alsobrooks and Trone have each emphasized abortion rights, which is expected to be a prominent issue in the general election campaign. Trone voted for House legislation in 2022 — it did not pass — to codify abortion rights into federal law. Alsobrooks has pledged to immediately promote similar legislation, if elected to Congress.
On Friday, both candidates called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said Hamas must be defeated, and the hostages returned. Trone sought to emphasize his personal and political experience on the question, saying his wife and four children are Jewish and that he has worked to improve relations in the Middle East, traveled there and even met the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Alsobrooks spoke more extensively about human suffering in Gaza.
Trone and Alsobrooks disagreed during the forum about TikTok, the popular social media app under scrutiny in Congress. Trone said the app allowed the Chinese government a “backdoor” to sensitive information and would favor banning it in the United States if it does not divest from its Chinese parent company.
Alsobrooks said “we should really be careful as we talk about things like banning TikTok” and stressed its popularity among young people.
Since they are in accord on many other issues, Trone and Alsobrooks sought to distinguish themselves through their personal histories.
During the forum, Alsobrooks emphasized her role as a mom — she has a daughter in college — and lifelong Marylander inspired by her parents and grandparents to pursue a public service career. Trone recounted growing up on a struggling family farm in Pennsylvania with an alcoholic father and later starting his own business.
Alsobrooks suggested at a Montgomery County forum in March — and again Friday to viewers — that Trone, as a member of the 435-seat House of Representatives, lacks her practical experience in reducing crime and building schools and suggested that all Trone has done in government is vote on legislation.
“Congressman Trone has zero experience when it comes to crime,” she told reporters after the forum.
Trone, who represents Western Maryland, has countered that he has emphasized criminal justice reform in Congress and sponsored legislation to help formerly incarcerated workers obtain education, training and jobs.
He said at the forum that he is the only candidate in the race who has always opposed the death penalty.
“It’s clearly cruel and unusual punishment and it’s clearly racist,” Trone said.
Alsobrooks was asked about a case in which, as the state’s attorney for Prince George’s, she said in 2011 that she would seek the death penalty for a man charged with killing four people, including two children.
“I can tell you, in that case, I sought life without parole because, again, I believe that people who harm and murder children deserve the stiffest penalty possible,” she responded. “But I would not be supporting the death penalty on the federal level.”
Asked for clarification after the forum, Lounsbury said what Alsobrooks had not: that she had sought the death penalty in the earlier case. But as the legal proceedings unfolded, Maryland abolished its death penalty in 2013, he said, so Alsobrooks then sought the harshest punishment available.
If elected, Alsobrooks would be Maryland’s first Black U.S. senator. The state’s 10-member congressional delegation is all men.
In an interview Monday on WJLA-TV in Washington, Trone was asked about the significance of adding diversity to Maryland’s congressional delegation.
“First of all, we’re probably going to elect two women to the delegation, so that’s going to be off the table pretty shortly,” Trone replied, referring to the possibility of female candidates claiming two of Maryland’s three open congressional seats in November. The open districts are the 2nd, which includes large parts of Baltimore and Carroll counties and a piece of Baltimore City; the 3rd, which is split between Howard and Anne Arundel, with a portion of Carroll County; and Trone’s 6th Congressional District.
In a statement, EMILY’S List President Jessica Mackler called Trone’s comment “deeply insulting to those fighting for greater representation and inclusion.” Trone was asked about Mackler’s statement at the forum.
“I have supported many, many great diversity candidates and will continue to do so across the country,” he said.