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Listen to this articleU.S. Senate candidate and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is looking to use an endorsement from state Senate President Bill Ferguson to bolster her support in Baltimore heading into the Democratic primary election in May.
Baltimore is emerging as a key battleground for both Alsobrooks and her chief rival for the nomination, Rep. David Trone.
Ferguson, who has represented Baltimore in the state Senate since 2011 and has been president of the body since 2020, represents another high-profile state-level endorsement for Alsobrooks and a key ally from the city as she looks to succeed longtime U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, who isn’t seeking reelection in 2024.
Speaking at a small press conference in front of a memorial of Frederick Douglass in Baltimore’s Maritime Park, Alsobrooks emphasized her personal ties to the city, too.
Alsobrooks said that, after attending law school at the University of Maryland School of Law in the city, she worked in the Baltimore City Circuit Court, providing her opportunities to build relationships with people who would become integral figures in her life, like U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, a Baltimore city congressman who has endorsed her.
“I came to really understand the people of Baltimore city,” she said. “Baltimore’s health and well-being really does control the health and well-being of our entire state.”
Alsobrooks said that it’s important to secure funding and resources to benefit the city’s manufacturing opportunities, build transportation networks to help people take advantage of jobs across the region and expand health care access.
On what Ferguson’s endorsement means for her competitiveness in Baltimore, Alsobrooks said “it really does speak to the relationships that we’ve had over the last, at least, 10 years working on behalf of, not just Prince Georgians, but I have worked alongside my colleagues on behalf of Marylanders.”
Winning Baltimore would also throw a wrench in the game plan of Trone, Alsobrooks’s main opponent, who said in an interview with Maryland Matters that his best chance at winning is by taking Baltimore and the surrounding region.
Trone, who is the wealthy co-founder of Total Wine & More liquor stores, has served two terms in Congress representing Western Maryland.
Between April and June, Trone, who has reportedly said he’s willing to spend up to $40 million of his own money on the race, spent $4.7 million on his campaign, finance reports show.
He took in about $9.8 million, 99% of which he personally loaned to his campaign.
Alsobrooks raised about $1.7 million over that time frame. She spent nearly $396,000, leaving her with more than $1.3 million in cash on hand.
Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando, also considered a rival candidate, raised about $526,000 and spent nearly $212,000, leaving him with $314,000 in cash on hand.
Considering the support Alsobrooks is likely to receive in Prince George’s County, where roughly one in five Maryland Democratic voters live, she would get a substantial boost from winning Baltimore, a city that’s home to 13% of the state’s Democratic voters and where 62% of the population identifies as Black or African American.
In Maryland, Alsobrooks has also received endorsements from the state’s junior senator, Chris Van Hollen, former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, state House Speaker and Baltimore County Del. Adrienne Jones, former Baltimore city delegate and now Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Treasurer Dereck Davis and other state lawmakers.
Alsobrooks, who is the first woman to be Prince George’s County executive, is looking to become just the third Black woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate, and the only woman in Maryland’s 10-member federal delegation.
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