This story, originally published Dec. 1, 2023 at 9:45 a.m. has been updated Dec. 1, 2023 at 11:35 a.m. to add the first name and title of Alsobrooks Communications Director Gina Ford.
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.
Trone and Alsobrooks have sought to burnish their criminal justice reform credentials. “My company has hired 1,400 returning citizens in the last seven years,” Trone told a recent gathering at the Leisure World community in Silver Spring, referring to those who had served prison sentences. Alsobrooks’ regular stump speech touts diversion programs she has instituted for first-time non-violent drug offenders and school truants to keep them from becoming part of the criminal justice system.
In a press release earlier this week, Trone took a swipe at Alsobrooks’ record on this front—citing a story by Baltimore radio station WYPR that referred to Alsobooks’ veto last June of a $250,000 budget amendment which included additional funding for diversion programs. In a veto letter at the time, Alsobrooks cited a $60 million projected shortfall in county revenue—while also contending that the $250,000 would have created a financial hole in a program needed to pay for benefits to retired county employees.
Trone, however, has taken aim at Alsobrooks over one issue in particular: the death penalty. “My opponent is on record supporting the death penalty. I’m not there—we’re against the death penalty categorically,” he told the District 18 Democrats.
Alsobrooks’ stance on this issue appears to have shifted during her tenure as Prince George’s state’s attorney a decade ago.
In 2011, early in her first term as state’s attorney, Alsobrooks sought the death penalty against a suspect accused of four murders, including two children and their mother and aunt. In later comments to the Washington Post, she described the killings as “one of the most heinous cases I have ever seen,” adding that “it took no time at all” to decide to seek the death penalty. After the General Assembly in 2013 enacted a ban on the death penalty in Maryland, Alsobrooks instead sought a sentence of life without parole in the case.
When proponents of the death penalty launched an ultimately unsuccessful petition drive to put the matter up for referendum in the 2014 general election ballot, Alsobrooks did not indicate whether she favored such a referendum. But a spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office said at the time that Alsobrooks would consider seeking the death penalty in future cases if it remained an option.
The effort to overturn the Maryland death penalty via referendum fell short due to failure to submit sufficient petition signatures. Responding this week to questions about Alsobrooks’ present stance on the matter, Alsobrooks Communications Director Gina Ford said, “Angela believes the voters of Maryland have spoken and does not support reinstating the death penalty.”
Ford added that “if elected to the U.S. Senate, Angela would vote to repeal the death penalty at the federal level.” The death penalty remains available at the federal level for certain crimes, including espionage and large-scale drug trafficking as well as murder.
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 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