Angela Alsobrooks gained a U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday to grow to be the primary Black candidate to be elected senator in Maryland, because the Democrat prevailed in a blue state towards in style Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan.
The race has been broadly watched with management of the Senate probably at stake.
Alsobrooks campaigned closely on abortion rights in a 12 months that Maryland voters accepted a poll measure to enshrine abortion rights within the state structure. She mentioned she heard on the marketing campaign path how a lot abortion rights matter to voters.
“I hear it not just from women, but I’ve heard from a number of men who say that they want the freedom for their daughters and their granddaughters, and that they’re very concerned about the direction we’re heading for people to make reproductive choices,” Alsobrooks mentioned in a September interview with The Related Press.
In his marketing campaign, Hogan mentioned he would assist abortion rights, however Alsobrooks argued he couldn’t be trusted to take action. She cited his veto of laws to broaden entry to abortion in Maryland whereas he was governor after which withheld cash for abortion coaching after the legislature overrode his veto.
Alsobrooks deftly used tv advertisements to emphasise that the race might decide Senate management, placing Maryland within the uncommon place of a possible swing state in a 12 months of excessive political stakes.
Hogan, who has been considered one of former President Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican critics, campaigned on offering an unbiased voice in Washington. However Alsobrooks challenged that always in her advertisements, which included video clips of the previous governor saying he opposed abortion and praising the Supreme Courtroom justices who enabled Roe v. Wade to be struck down in 2022.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
Alsobrooks overcame criticism from Hogan after it was reported by CNN in September that she improperly claimed property tax credit for 2 properties, one thing her marketing campaign mentioned she was unaware of and has began to repay with curiosity.
Whereas a Republican has not gained a Senate race in Maryland in additional than 40 years, Hogan was probably the most formidable candidate fielded by the GOP within the state in years. The 2-term former governor had gained over sufficient Democratic voters to win two statewide races in 2014 and 2018 in a state the place Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.
Nonetheless, Hogan had a troublesome needle to string. This election was the primary time Hogan ran on the identical poll as Trump, who’s deeply unpopular in Maryland. Hogan’s criticism of Trump, whereas serving to to win some Democrats whose assist he needed to should win statewide, turned off some Republican voters.
Alsobrooks additionally campaigned on gun management. Vice President Kamala Harris, a pal of Alsobrooks, made a marketing campaign cease in Maryland for her, the place they each spoke concerning the significance of taking motion towards gun violence.
“We should be working to remove ghost guns from our streets,” Alsobrooks instructed AP in September. “We should be working to make sure that we have really sensible gun legislation that gets guns out of the hands of the wrong people and further protects our children.”
Since 2018, Alsobrooks, 53, has served because the county government of Prince George’s County, Maryland’s second most populous jurisdiction within the suburbs of the nation’s capital. Earlier than that, she served because the county’s high prosecutor.
