A wave of news coverage highlights the strength Angela Alsobrooks brings to the U.S. Senate race in Maryland and the challenges facing Mitch McConnell’s handpicked U.S. Senate candidate, Republican Larry Hogan.
Check out the latest coverage on Maryland’s U.S. Senate race here:
Washington Post: Larry Hogan has won statewide twice. But now everything is different.
May 15, 2024
By Paul Schwartzman and Erin Cox
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After eight years in Annapolis, [Hogan] will be forced to defend his record… One target, they say, is his 2022 veto of legislation to expand abortion access in Maryland.
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Democrats who have voted for Hogan in the past may be more reluctant now that his victory could help Republicans capture control of the Senate — a possibility of pointed concern for voters worried about issues such as abortion rights.
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“The Republican brand is terrible, and the presidential nominee does not help,” said Michael Steele, Maryland’s Republican former lieutenant governor and former chair of the Republican National Committee.
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Democrats have controlled Maryland’s two Senate seats since 1987.
“Democrats are wasting no time teeing off on Hogan — painting him not as an aisle-crossing dealmaker and Trump skeptic, but as a self-described ‘lifelong Republican’ who will largely tow the party line once elected. A new DSCC digital ad and fundraising microsite compiles some of Hogan’s less-mavericky moments and shares a simple message: ‘A vote for Larry Hogan is a vote for a Republican Senate majority,’” [Politico, 5/15/24]
Maryland Matters: Already historic Senate race gets more so, as Alsobrooks gets nod to take on Hogan
May 15, 2024
By Danielle J. Brown, William J. Ford, Bryan P. Sears, and Josh Kurtz
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Hogan is sure to face questions about access to abortion in a year when Maryland voters will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a woman’s right to the procedure. There is also concern that Republican control of the House and Senate could lead to a national law limiting access.
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Hogan, a lifelong Republican… said he would caucus with his own party if elected.
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A Catholic, Hogan has said he personally opposes abortion but won the governor’s office twice, deftly avoiding the topic… But he also vetoed legislation that would have expanded abortion provider training. When that veto was overridden, he withheld $3.5 million in state funding for the training. Gov. Wes Moore (D) released the money as one of his first acts after being sworn in.
Baltimore Sun: Do not underestimate fearless Angela Alsobrooks
May 15, 2024
By Baltimore Sun Editorial Board
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It was a stunning victory [for Alsobrooks] not just in its depth but its breadth as she not only took the critical P.G.-Montgomery-Baltimore City Democratic triangle but fared decently beyond it from rural St. Mary’s County in Southern Maryland to Baltimore County.
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[Hogan’s] opposition wasn’t serious — and that’s especially true of Robin Ficker… Yet the MAGA-aligned largely self-funded Ficker garnered a shocking 30% of the GOP vote, even outright taking four counties from Hogan.
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Hogan’s polling numbers may prove ephemeral as the possibility of a Trump victory starts to sink in with Maryland Democrats and independents. Trump’s talk of retribution, of jettisoning career federal workers in favor of political appointees, of reversing progress made under Biden will get renewed scrutiny. And so will Hogan’s time in Annapolis and his claims to have been above the partisan fray (which he most assuredly was not).
Bolts’ Daniel Nichanian: “More people voted for Angela Alsobrooks (who won her primary 54/42) than have voted in the ENTIRE GOP primary for Senate in Maryland (so for Larry Hogan, & the Republicans he beat, combined). This’s as of now, with more to count; but gap is likely to grow since more mail is out.”
“There are recent cautionary tales of popular, moderate minority-party governors failing to win Senate seats in recent elections, evidence that voters are far more willing to vote their partisan politics for federal offices than state ones. In Montana and Tennessee, former Democratic governors Steve Bullock and Phil Bredesen, respectively, both ran for open Senate seats in deep-red states in 2020 and 2018 respectively. Both lost badly,” [Associated Press, 5/15/24]
Montgomery Community Media: Trone calls for party unity following defeat in Senate Democratic primary
May 15, 2024
By Katharine Wilson
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To his supporters and the press Tuesday night, Trone called for party unity against Republican Senate nominee former Gov. Larry Hogan. “We cannot let the party of Trump take our Senate,” Trone said Tuesday.
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“Let’s get behind our nominee, let’s figure out how to hold onto that U.S. Senate,” Trone said.
“Republicans privately believe Alsobrooks will be more difficult to beat… The DSCC launched digital ads minutes after polls closed, pointing out what could be considered politically problematic in the Senate race — that Hogan is a “lifelong Republican,” [Washington Post, 5/15/24]
Cook Political Report: Alsobrooks Wins Democratic Primary in Maryland, Remains the Favorite for November
May 15, 2024
By Jessica Taylor, Erin Covey, Amy Walter, and Matthew Klein
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Alsobrooks racked up big margins in Black majority counties, like her home base of Prince George’s and in the city of Baltimore, that contributed to her double-digit victory… [She proved] her appeal to white, college-educated voters in the D.C. suburbs as well.
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Hogan faces a much different task in winning a federal race in a state President Biden carried by 33 points four years ago.
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There were some signs of unrest among the more conservative GOP primary electorate. Hogan only took 62% of the vote, as Robin Ficker, a gadfly candidate who ran on a strongly pro-MAGA platform, got 30%.
National Journal’s Hannah Thacker: “Hogan will face a candidate that represents everything he is not. More than 30% of the state is Black, more than 50% of the state identifies as Democrats or lean Democrat, and she was able to pocket the state’s most populous counties… it’s going to be an uphill battle for the former governor.”