With early voting in Maryland’s Senate primary beginning this week, leading Democratic candidates Angela Alsobrooks and David Trone are highlighting their differences – including key endorsements -- in a race where their policies are closely aligned.
Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s county executive, and Trone, a businessman-turned-congressman, share similar views when it comes to reproductive rights, a repeal of the federal death penalty, a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution.
But there are undeniable differences when it comes to their backgrounds, how they’re funding their candidacies and historic implications for each in a potential win.
If Alsobrooks earns the nomination, she could become the first Black woman senator in Maryland's history and break up the state's all-male congressional delegation.
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Trone, meanwhile, is a multimillionaire largely self-funding his U.S. Senate run at a time national Democrats are defending 20 seats. The contest has national implications as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate and Republicans are poised to heavily back former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is expected to win the GOP nod.
Alsobrooks is aware of the magnitude of her candidacy, but in an interview with News4, she said that’s not why she should be elected.
Decision 2024
“I know that race and gender play into people's kind of considerations, but I think they mostly want a person who understands them, a person who will fight for them, a person who has a record of results. And that is what I offer people,” she said.
A prolific donor to Democratic causes, Trone said he offers experience – noting “this is not a job for someone on training wheels” -- as well as the ability to win in Republican territory.
His congressional district stretches from Montgomery County to western Maryland. While the population centers of Montgomery County, Prince George's County and the Baltimore region are important targets, Trone has said he has the "persona" to carry the rest of the state.
“This race is about beating Larry Hogan pretty soon, and I won in a Republican district by 10 points. That's tough,” he said.
News4 held separate interviews with the candidates after plans to hold a televised debate fell through. Alsobrooks’ campaign agreed to the debate, but Trone’s camp didn’t commit.
Instead, the candidates touted their bona fides to News4 while taking jabs at each other in an increasingly contentious race.
Trone, for example, also has called Alsobrooks a career politician. Before she was county executive, Alsobrooks was a domestic violence prosecutor and then served as state's attorney for Prince George’s County.
“All she has ever done has been in politics, just working her way up the ladder from one political job to the next, to the next, to the next,” he said.
Before running for Congress, Trone became a multimillionaire through building the Total Wine alcohol empire – a fortune that’s allowed him to largely self-fund his multiple political campaigns.
“I don't begrudge people who earn money, even if they do so selling liquor,” Alsobrooks said in response to his attack. “But I think that it is wrong to disparage public service."
She’s accused Trone of trying to “buy” the Senate seat, saying, “To allow the person with the most money to buy an election, that is a very dangerous precedent, and I don't think Marylanders are going to allow it.”
Money matters
Money has no doubt emerged as a major difference in this closely watched race.
According to the latest election filings, Trone has loaned his campaign nearly $42 million and raised about $640,000 from individual donors.
Alsobrooks, meanwhile, has raised $7.1 million, with nearly $6 million from individual donors -- the majority from Maryland.
Trone said his wealth guarantees he's not accountable to special interests while accusing Alsobrooks, whose donors include people affiliated with real estate and other lobbying groups, of being beholden to corporate donors.
“When I'm not taking money -- like my opponent takes money from Exxon -- well, I can go after them about tax rates, about our climate change,” he said, adding, “People love that fact that you're independent.”
When News4 noted Total Wine is a powerful force in the alcohol lobby, Trone – listed on its website as a co-owner -- responded, “First of all, nothing that Total Wine does has anything to do with the federal level. Zero. It's all state level stuff.”
But Alsobrooks has repeatedly made issue of Total Wine’s donations to Republican governors in states that have curtailed reproductive rights.
“I am the only candidate in this race who has never compromised my values where choice is concerned,” she said. “You think about Mr. Trone, who has contributed to the campaigns … of these Republicans across the country who are working diligently right now to ban abortion.”
In response, Trone said Total Wine is merely protecting its interests in the states where it operates.
“We support red candidates. Some blue candidates … but none of it's related to women's rights,” he said.
Trone points out his foundation helped open an abortion clinic in Cumberland, Maryland, last year, when neighboring state West Virginia all but banned the procedure.
“What we really have done has been phenomenally, 100% supportive of a woman's right to abortion,” he said.
Eyes toward Hogan?
Trone is leading Alsobrooks in many independent polls, though Alsobrooks said her own polling has them in a statistical tie.
But some of those same polls show Hogan with a clear shot at beating them both.
Alsobrooks downplayed the significance of that polling to News4, pointing out the two-term former governor hasn't run during a presidential election year when more of Maryland's Democrats are expected to turn out and vote.
“Maryland's not purple. It's blue, you know. And we're going to see that in this next general election,” she said.
Trone, meanwhile, told supporters at a recent event, “I'm the only guy that can beat Larry Hogan, I tell you that right now.”
Alsobrooks has repeatedly pointed out Trone’s companies have donated to Hogan in the past. According to a 2018 article from The Washington Post, several of Trone’s businesses donated funds to the Maryland GOP following Hogan’s gubernatorial win against now-Attorney General Anthony Brown in the 2014 race.
At the time, a spokesman for Total Wine said the funds were intended to help Hogan retire campaign debt.
In a statement, the Hogan campaign told News4 the former governor is "the underdog in this race," adding, "Nobody will outwork us. They were expecting a coronation, but what they are going to get is the fight of their lives.”
Endorsements
With few policy differences, Alsbrooks and Trone are blasting the airwaves this week to highlight their key endorsements.
In one, Alsobrooks is flanked by U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Gov. Wes Moore and key members of the state's congressional delegation like Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey.
Former Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate from Maryland, emerged out of retirement this week to throw her support behind Alsobrooks, too.
Sen. Ben Cardin, who is stepping down after three terms in the Senate, has said he will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic race.
Trone, meanwhile, is highlighting the support he's gotten from leaders in Alsobrooks' own county, including Attorney General Brown, State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy, state Sen. Joanne Benson and a few council members.
“The people that know that county the best, ironically, all came to us,” he said.
When News4 noted the majority of elected officials in the county are supporting Alsobrooks, Trone countered, “The people in Prince George’s County that stuck with her are the low-level folks, not the top level folks. That's called the attorney general … it's called the state's attorney … it's called the senior senator. I think they're the top level folks.”
Asked for her response to such key endorsements going to Trone, Alsobrooks said, “I have so much support, you know, that it would be really shortsighted of me, I think, to focus on who has not chosen to support me.”
With battle lines drawn, the question is who do voters think has the best shot at winning the general election this fall, especially if facing Hogan at the polls.
“We don't want them voting just against Larry Hogan. I want to offer them something to vote for,” Alsobrooks said.
Trone, for his part, summarized the historic implications of the Democratic contest.
“This race really hinges on who could beat Larry Hogan or we lose the U.S. Senate,” he said.
Reported by Tracee Wilkins, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Steve Jones and Jeff Piper.
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