In their first televised primary debate, Rep. David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks each sought to position themselves as the Democratic Party’s best chance of defeating the state’s popular, two-term former Republican governor in November.
With similar stances on key issues such as education and reproductive rights, the leading Democrats in the race for U.S. Senate emphasized contrasting experience in making their pitch to primary voters — all while agreeing on the stakes. The race is one of a handful of contests across the country with the power to determine control of the chamber in November, which Democrats currently hold by a razor-thin margin.
Trone, a multimillionaire founder of Total Wine & More, highlighted his record in Congress, his business experience and a challenging upbringing over the course of an hour-long live program on Fox45 and WJLA7. Alsobrooks, who was previously Prince George’s state’s attorney, pointed to her own experiences as a woman and mother, her criminal justice background and her record leading the state’s second-most populous county.
Advertisem*nt
Trone swiftly declared victory in a news release after the debate. Alsobrooks hailed her “standout performance.” Each claimed momentum heading into the next phase of the contest.
As May 14 approaches, attention is building on what had largely been seen as a sleepy contest for a reliably blue seat until Hogan launched a surprise bid two months ago. Endorsem*nts are flying, yards signs are popping up and airwaves are thrumming with campaign messaging — and money.
This week alone saw the liberal super PAC Fight Corporate Monopolies launch the cycle’s first negative ad, swiping at Trone’s business practices and comparing him to former Republican president Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Hogan deployed a nearly $1 million television ad buy half bankrolled by national Republicans eager to flip the open Senate seat red.
Advertisem*nt
National dollars are flowing into a contest that had been largely shaped by Trone’s deep pockets. He has loaned his campaign at least $41.7 million since the start of the primary race, campaign finance records show.
Alsobrooks, an underdog in the race, according to recent polls, repeatedly focused attention on Trone’s fortunes and interrogated his argument that self-funding helps insulate him from special interests — repeating a line of attack she and her surrogates have raised about him “buying” the seat.
During the debate, she took aim at contributions Trone has made in a personal capacity and through his company, Total Wine & More, to conservative leaders such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) who have worked to quash abortion access.
That fact, she said, contrasts with a record of giving that Trone has touted. He helped establish an abortion clinic in Western Maryland near the border with West Virginia after that state effectively shut down the procedure.
Advertisem*nt
“He cannot claim credit for the good his company does and distance himself from the bad that it does,” Alsobrooks said.
Trone, in turn, swatted at her accusations by insinuating her interests would lie with companies that have supported her campaign, referencing by name Exxon, Pfizer and Cigna.
“When you take the money … then they must expect something [of politicians],” Trone said. “They’re not charities.”
Alsobrooks has brought in more individual contributions than any other candidate, and filings show she has just under $3.2 million on hand. Still, Alsobrooks’s performance Friday carried extra weight in a race with lopsided resources at a time when she is seeking to boost name recognition.
Polls released over the past six weeks show Trone consistently leading her, and Hogan, who left office last year with high favorability ratings, leading them both.
Hogan has maintained that he is an underdog in a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 2 to 1. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted in March found that while Hogan is better known than Trone and Alsobrooks, he faces a crosscurrent Democrats hope to exploit: Maryland voters said by a 20-point margin that they prefer Democratic control of the U.S. Senate.
Hogan was out front in a poll released this week by FOX45 News, the Baltimore Sun and the University of Baltimore and conducted by OpinionWorks. The results show Trone leading Alsobrooks, 49 percent to 28 percent.
Advertisem*nt
When Trone on Friday detailed a bipartisan spirit he said helped him compete with Hogan, Alsobrooks took the opportunity to question a record of political giving to the man he hopes to beat. In 2014, eight of Trone’s businesses gave $30,000 to Hogan in an effort to help him get rid of campaign debt, The Post reported.
“What we don’t need is a Larry Hogan donor trying to take on Larry Hogan in the fall,” Alsobrooks said.
Among the sharpest jabs Friday was an exchange on endorsem*nts, with Trone noting he had secured the support of prominent politicians from the county Alsobrooks represents.
On Thursday, he received an endorsem*nt from Aisha Braveboy (D), the Prince George’s County state’s attorney who holds Alsobrooks’s former position. Democratic Prince George’s County Council members Krystal Oriadha and Edward Burroughs III — both of whom have endorsed Trone and been critical of Alsobrooks in the past — were in the studio Friday, at times huddling around Trone during commercial breaks.
Advertisem*nt
“The folks that really matter the most are those that know you the best,” Trone said. “Prince George’s County supports us. The list goes on and on and on.”
Alsobrooks has picked up Democratic heavyweights from the local to the federal level. Among her supporters are Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Rep. Jamie Raskin and former Prince George’s county executive Rushern Baker IV.
The pair didn’t spar over topics such as the Israel-Hamas war, on which they both agree that Hamas should be defeated, a cease-fire is needed and that hostages must be released. They also said cities should have access to federal data currently withheld from the public to enhance law enforcement’s ability to trace guns and quell crime.
Both contenders have made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of their campaign, tapping into an issue that has galvanized voters since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
Advertisem*nt
They have sought to paint Hogan, who would not say in an interview whether he would codify abortion protections in federal law, as an enemy of reproductive rights. Hogan said he would not vote for a national abortion ban, but he also said he would not take a position on hypothetical legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade.
Cracks in their positions appeared when asked about repealing the death penalty.
Alsobrooks supported the death sentence of a man convicted of killing four people, including two children, when she was Prince George’s state’s attorney, a panelist noted. But as the federal government reconsiders the death penalty, Alsobrooks noted that she, too, has evolved on the issue.
Marylanders have decided that the death penalty is no longer the law of the land in Maryland, “and I agree with Maryland voters,” Alsobrooks said. I can tell you that I would also not support the death penalty on the federal level. … Having said that, what I believe is that anyone who harms a child or who murders a child in particular deserves the stiffest penalty available to that person. And right now in Maryland, that penalty is life without parole.
In his rebuttal, Trone emphasized his steadfast opposition to it. “It’s clearly cruel and unusual punishment, and it’s clearly racist,” he said.
Early voting in Maryland’s Democratic and Republican primaries begins May 2.
