Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) at a rally in June 2024. Photo by Elijah Pittman.
A year ago, the annual dinner of the group Progressive Maryland turned into an impromptu pep rally for U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th), who was the keynote speaker. Raskin had already said he wasn’t going to run for Senate in 2024, but many of the activists at the dinner tried to persuade him to change his mind, with chants of “Run, Jamie, Run!”
It didn’t work, of course.
A year later, Progressive Maryland is devoting most of its resources this fall to electing Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) to the Senate seat that Raskin declined to run for. The group has budgeted about $500,000 for the effort to defeat former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and expects its volunteers and field organizers to hit between 100,000 and 200,000 voters’ doors before Election Day.
“We’re going to have her back to beat Hogan,” said Larry Stafford, Progressive Maryland’s executive director. “We’re going to do the biggest field work in Maryland this fall, with the possible exception of the Democratic Party.”
That’s not as obvious a development as it may sound.
Progressive Maryland has had an uneasy relationship with Alsobrooks at times during her political career, publicly chastising her for close ties to Prince George’s County developers, and parting company with her on certain economic and criminal justice issues in the county. Stafford’s wife, Shalya Adams-Stafford, is an elected member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education — part of a faction on the school board that is frequently at odds with Alsobrooks’ allies.
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But with control of the U.S. Senate up for grabs this November, Progressive Maryland leaders believe there’s too much at stake to sit the election out.
“We’ve had our differences with Angela,” Stafford conceded, “but we are fully committed to making sure that Larry Hogan doesn’t win this Senate seat.”
Stafford said the group’s canvassers are focusing on Prince George’s and Baltimore City, and may dip into Montgomery County and other jurisdictions as well.
“The type of voter we’re profiling is the low- to mid-range turnout voter,” he said. “We want to make sure they’re excited and prepared.”
The group is also partnering with its allies in the labor movement to reach union members who will be a critical part of Alsobrooks’ coalition.
Stafford said Progressive Maryland troops have been surprised to encounter voters on their target list who view Hogan favorably, or are reluctant to support Alsobrooks, or seem disinclined to vote at all.
“We’re trying to persuade people more than we want,” he said.
While Alsobrooks and her allies continue to try to paint Hogan as a surefire vote for conservative Republican priorities, a group called Democrats for Hogan hit back Wednesday, asserting that Alsobrooks has run a strictly partisan campaign while Hogan preaches bipartisanship.
“As Montgomery County Democrats, we are proud to support Governor Hogan because he has always put the best interests of Marylanders above party politics. Independent leadership is the cornerstone of his campaign,” the co-chairs of the group, Rona Kramer and Luiz Simmons said in a statement.
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“In stark contrast, all of the TV ads from his opponent and her allies are negative and divisive,” the statement said. “Anyone who cares about protecting the right to choose would applaud Governor Hogan’s pro-choice stance instead of turning it into just another political weapon. In today’s polarized environment, it’s more important than ever to celebrate the common ground between candidates rather than fueling division.”
Kramer is a former state senator who spent eight years in Hogan’s Cabinet, as secretary of Aging. Simmons is a former state delegate who was first elected to the legislature, in the 1970s, as a Republican. He returned decades later as a Democrat.
Stafford said he frets that Democratic leaders and donors, especially at the national level, are taking the Maryland Senate election for granted, and are assuming the state’s 2-1 advantage in Democratic voter enrollment will carry Alsobrooks to victory.
But polls here continue to be tight: One recent poll from AARP Maryland had Hogan and Alsobrooks tied, while a Gonzales poll showed Alsobrooks with a 5-point lead. The Hill on Tuesday reported that Republican senators were given a GOP poll this week showing the Maryland race is tied, though the newspaper had no further information on the poll the lawmakers were reportedly shown by party strategists.
Stafford’s fears that national Democratic leaders may not be prioritizing the Maryland Senate election appear to be confirmed by remarks U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, gave reporters on Tuesday. Peters said his top priority this November is defending incumbents in tough races — placing Montana’s Jon Tester and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown at the top of the list for resources.
Tester has been trailing his Republican challenger in recent polls, while Brown is clinging to a very narrow lead. Montana and Ohio are almost certain to be carried by former President Donald Trump in the White House election, potentially boosting the Republican challengers — just as Maryland is almost certain to be carried by Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Democrats are also defending closely fought Senate seats in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Cook Political Report
rates the Senate election in Montana as “lean Republican,” while the campaigns in Michigan and Ohio are listed as “toss up” races. The political tip sheet places Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the “lean Democrat” category.
The Maryland Senate race is rated as “likely Democrat,” a less competitive category, which may explain why it’s getting less national attention.
West Virginia’s Senate seat is almost certain to flip from blue to red this fall, giving Democrats zero margin for error in other states — and even then, they’d only keep the majority if Harris defeats Trump. Senate Democrats hope to knock off Republican incumbents in Texas and Florida, but Cook currently rates those races as “likely Republican.”
“To be candid, my No. 1 priority is to bring back all of the incumbents,” Peters said. “But we also want to go on the offense, and offense is going to be very important. And right now our focus is Texas and Florida.”
This year, Progressive Maryland’s annual gala is scheduled for Sept. 26, with former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner (D), a close ally of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, as the headline speaker. Sept. 26 appears to be a night of progressive fundraising in Maryland: The Maryland League of Conservation Voters also has its annual dinner that evening, and U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is headlining a fundraiser for the Baltimore County Progressive Democrats Club to benefit the Harris campaign.
– Jennifer Shutt from States Newsroom contributed to this report.
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