The first head-to-head encounter among the Democratic contenders for the Senate seat up for grabs in next May’s primary will be Sunday. The forum begins at 2 p.m. at Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg and is sponsored by the Latino Democrats of Prince George’s County. In addition to the front-runners—U.S. Rep. David Trone of Potomac and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks—long-shot contender and telecommunications executive Juan Dominguez of Anne Arundel County will also be in attendance.
Given the powerful motivator abortion has been for Democratic voters since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court more than a year ago, both of the party’s Senate frontrunners in Maryland have gone to lengths to highlight their bona fides.
“Check out closely our opponent’s position on abortion,” Trone told the recent gathering of the District 18 Democratic Breakfast Club, adding: “I founded an abortion clinic in Cumberland [in western Maryland]…Yeah, we were picketed, and people caused trouble. But now, women can get an abortion and all the various medical support they need right in Allegany County.”
Trone donated $10,000 in 2023 to the clinic through his personal philanthropic arm, the David and June Trone Family Foundation, according to his campaign’s communications director, Joe Bowen, who added that Trone “looks forward to continuing his support for their incredible work in 2024 and beyond.”
Bowen also said that Trone had sent out fundraising appeals on behalf of the facility to his email list and worked with local officials to “ensure a smooth process for opening a clinic in one of Maryland’s last abortion deserts.” The clinic was the subject of a recent Trone campaign ad.
“Check if that’s been done in any of my opponent’s county. I don’t think so,” Trone recently told the District 18 Democrats, contending via X (formerly Twitter) several days later: “I’m the only candidate in this race with a proven, 100% track record in support of abortion rights.”
Trone’s emphasis on his abortion rights record comes amid renewed criticism on this front that has been aimed at him periodically throughout his decade running for and serving in public office.
One group backing Alsobrooks, EMILY’s List—a so-called “Super PAC” that helps fund Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights—recently has gone on the counteroffensive. It cited past contributions by Trone and his company, Total Wine & More, to anti-abortion Republicans, particularly at the state level.
“When Wisconsin Republicans stood by an 1849 law banning abortions or Georgia Republicans passed a 2019 trigger ban on abortions, it was with legislative majorities Trone funded,” the group’s interim president, Jessica Mackler, charged in a statement this summer. “ Trone stood for his personal profit, not abortion rights. Maryland voters won’t be fooled.”
Mackler’s statement came shortly after Time magazine published a story disclosing that Total Wine & More had donated more than $90,000 over two election cycles to Republicans in Georgia and Wisconsin. A campaign spokesman told the publication that Trone had stepped down as CEO of the company in 2015 and was not involved in making the contributions in question.
However, a Washington Post story published during Trone’s first race for Congress in 2016 showed $150,000 in contributions to Republicans in states around the country during the prior two decades. Trone at the time defended the donations as part of the cost of doing business in GOP-controlled jurisdictions where stores were located, telling the Post, “We disagree categorically with their political positions on everything social and economic.”
For her part, Alsobrooks has promised in a position paper on her campaign website that “on her first day in office” she would cosponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act—legislation to re-establish a nationwide right of abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Trone has voted for a similar measure in the House.) Alsobrooks also vowed to “oppose any judicial nominee who does not support abortion rights.”
However, as Alsobrooks has vowed to fight for abortion rights in the Senate, some abortion rights advocates have privately questioned her efforts in her current county executive role to help ensure access to abortion in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
They cite the absence in Prince George’s County of initiatives similar to those in neighboring Montgomery County, where County Executive Marc Elrich made $1 million in grants available to abortion services providers to make it easier for both county residents and those traveling from out of state to access abortions and reproductive health care. (Elrich is among the more than 115 current elected officials in Maryland who have endorsed Alsobrooks’ candidacy.)
In a written response to MoCo360, the Alsobrooks campaign sidestepped a question about what, if any, steps had been taken in Prince George’s County along the lines of neighboring Montgomery. “Abortion is legal in Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland,” noted Alsobrooks’ communications director, Gina Ford, who added that Alsobrooks’ “commitment to this fundamental right and record of working for women and families as county executive and state’s attorney earned the endorsement of Reproductive Freedom for All…and EMILY’s List.”
The endorsement of Reproductive Freedom for All—which recently changed its name from NARAL Pro-Choice America—stirred controversy when it was announced a couple of weeks ago. When word of the group’s plans to back Alsobrooks became known prior to the formal announcement, Trone issued a pre-emptive statement charging that the endorsement was made “without…allowing all candidates to participate in the process,” himself included.
His campaign pointed to a past 100% rating on his House votes in NARAL voting scorecards; his latest available scorecard, from 2020, shows Trone as well as the other seven Democrats in the Maryland congressional delegation at that time with 100% scores. Trone also was awarded a similar rating from the NARAL for 2021, the last year for which voting scores from that organization are available.
In addition, Trone has boasted of a 100% voting score from another national abortion rights advocacy group, Planned Parenthood, throughout his three terms. The endorsement of the group’s national political arm, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, remains a focus of both candidates, as the Alsobrooks and Trone camps continue their efforts to secure the upper hand politically on this issue.
In the days leading up to the Sunday forum, we’ll take a detailed look at how Alsobrooks and Trone have positioned themselves so far in the race and on these controversial topics.
Part I: How the candidates are positioning themselves
Part II: Abortion
Part III: Criminal justice reform and the death penalty
Part IV: LGBTQ+ rights
Part V: Diversity