Kamala Harris isn’t the only Black woman trying to make history this year. Angela Alsobrooks, who will take the stage in Chicago on Tuesday night, is trying to become the first Black person Maryland sends to the US Senate.
And though neither puts their history-making potential at the forefront of their public message, they’re riding a wave of Democratic enthusiasm about what’s possible in November.
“When you look at elections in this country, make no mistake about it: women, but Black women in particular, have saved this country time and time again from itself,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN on Tuesday before a meeting of the Maryland delegation in Chicago. “And now it’s time for us to elect them.”
Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive, is vying to become only the third Black woman elected to the Senate, along with Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester. (The one Black woman currently serving — California’s Laphonza Butler — was appointed and isn’t running to stay beyond this year.)
“The excitement is really, really, really big, especially with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket,” said Karen Darkes, the executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party. “It’s not lost on Marylanders that we have a moment, that we’re in an historic moment just in our state, and we have to double down on that by electing the (state’s) first Black woman senator.”
Alsobrooks is up against Republican Larry Hogan, a popular former two-term governor, whose entrance into the race in February raised the stakes for Democrats – who were already on defense across the country – to hold retiring Sen. Ben Cardin’s seat. With Republicans poised to flip a Senate seat in West Virginia, the party only needs to pick up one more seat or win the White House to secure the majority.
Alsobrooks’ prominent presence at the Chicago convention, where many Democrats in tough races aren’t eager to be seen, speaks to how unique her race is in this year’s Senate landscape. She’s running in a state Biden carried by more than 30 points, while most of this year’s competitive contests are taking place in states that former President Donald Trump either won or narrowly lost in 2020.
Alsobrooks’ chance to make history was resonant in May’s Democratic primary, when she scored a stunning defeat over Rep. David Trone, the owner of Total Wine & More, who broke the record for self-funding a Senate primary campaign. Trone massively outspent her, but he and his allies had some slips (suggesting she’d need “training wheels” in the Senate, for example) that backfired. In the end, it wasn’t close – she beat Trone by more than 10 points.
Alsobrooks’ lived experience as a Black woman — and her potential to break up the state’s all-male congressional delegation, most of whom had endorsed her — was on the minds of many of her primary supporters who spoke to CNN this spring and said they were looking for diverse representation and an authentic messenger on abortion rights.
And now in the general election — when Democrats’ biggest argument is that Hogan would be a 51st vote for Republicans in the Senate — Black turnout will be key to their success.
“Everyone knows that Black women determine who wins votes in Baltimore, and with my vice president, Kamala Harris, at the top of the ticket, and county executive Alsobrooks on the ticket, we know that they’re going to turn out, and they’re going to turn out in numbers,” Scott said.
But it’s not just Baltimore. Wanika Fisher serves on the county council in Prince George’s County – home to one of the largest middle class Black populations in the country. “These are Black folks with money and degrees, and that level, with Kamala and Angela together from our state, is just Black girl magic,” she said.
State Sen. Antonio Hayes also pointed to the significance of Harris and Alsobrooks being part of the Divine Nine. “Having two individuals from two different organizations represented in that way is a powerful moment,” he said.
The two women, both prosecutors, know each other well and have campaigned for each other over the years. Harris was in Prince George’s County just last week with President Joe Biden for an event on lowering drug costs, which Alsobrooks attended.
“Their relationship that they already have established lends to the excitement that we have in our state,” said Darkes, who noted that while they’ve both led their campaigns with the issues, the possibility of electing Black women fires people up.
There’s been no public polling of the race since the primary that meets CNN standards. But Alsobrooks has kept the money race competitive – she narrowly outraised Hogan in the second quarter, raking in $5.3 million to his $5.1 million, and ended up with more money in the bank. And in such a blue state, Democrats are working to tie Hogan to GOP leadership – a job made easier when Trump endorsed him. (Hogan has said he isn’t voting for Trump and has “no interest” in his backing.)
Hogan was not on stage for the Republican convention in Milwaukee and has tried to distance himself from the national party – especially on abortion. He told The New York Times after he won the primary that he’d support federal legislation to codify Roe v. Wade – which Alsobrooks immediately criticized, citing his previous veto of a state law to expand abortion access.
“Just because you don’t say anything offensive like Trump doesn’t mean your policies aren’t offensive,” said Fisher, who served as assistant majority leader in the House of Delegates when Hogan was governor.
“And when you go to the halls of Congress, you’re there to express an idea and a value, you’re not executing anymore,” she said, drawing a distinction between the executive experience she said voters want from a governor and the representation they want in Washington.
For Maryland delegates convening in Chicago this week, there’s palpable energy for who they want that representative to be — in the Senate and the White House.
“The former president doesn’t know what a Black job is,” Scott said, “he’s about to find out very quickly.”
