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.
In a majority-Black jurisdiction of Prince George’s County, the absence of Latinos – who currently account for nearly one-quarter of the county’s population—in high-ranking positions in the county government has been a continuing source of controversy for Alsobrooks during her tenure as executive. And her leading opponent, presumably sensing a vulnerability, has begun to raise the issue.
“Check on the diversity in our office – Latinos included, members of all groups included,” Trone recently told District 18 Democrats.
The Trone campaign did not immediately provide statistics for his congressional office, but Bowen said staffers who identify as people of color account for slightly more than 50% of the Trone campaign staff—which, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings, appears to total approximately 30 individuals. Bowen said there are currently five Latino staffers on the campaign, including three in senior roles – with plans to increase that number as outreach to Latino voters expands in the new year.
In the fall of 2021, a group of current and former Latino elected officials accused Alsobrooks of failing to name a single official of Hispanic descent to a top agency-level position in county government or to any of the dozen key posts on her executive team since first being elected in 2018.
“Where are the Latinos in Prince George’s County government?” the group asked in a statement, accusing Alsobrooks of being “stubbornly closed to the inclusion of Latinos in the county’s public affairs.” Leading the group was District 21 Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk and then-County Council Vice-Chair Deni Taveras, now a member of the House of Delegates representing District 47B.
For her part, Alsobrooks has claimed significant progress in this area. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) by the Alsobrooks campaign on Sept. 15, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month this year, Alsobrooks wrote, “In the time I’ve served as County Executive, Latino workers in the County workforce grew from 6% to 23%.”
Such claims were met with skepticism – at best – by members of the Prince George’s Latino community, who have continued to point to a limited number of Latinos in high-ranking governmental roles.
An email earlier this week from Alsobrooks Communications Director Gina Ford initially reiterated the claim contained in the earlier Alsobrooks campaign tweet of a nearly four-fold increase in Latino hiring. But in a subsequent email, she asked that the statistic be withdrawn, saying, “We were given inaccurate information.” She did not offer updated data on the percentage of Latinos now in county government.
Pena-Melnyk in September doubled-down on her complaints of two years earlier. Responding to the statistics posted by Alsobrooks’ on Twitter at the time, she wrote: “Latinos are 23% of the Prince George’s County population yet for four years and until recently, there have been no Latinos in the Prince George’s county executive’s 39-member cabinet,” Pena-Melnyk declared via X during Hispanic Heritage Month. “Latinos need to be at the table where decisions are being made.”
Both sides agree that at least one cabinet post – that of chief information security officer – is now held by someone of Hispanic descent. Ford also noted that the deputy director of the Office of Community Relations is now held by a Latino.
She added: “Angela created the first ever Latino Advisory Board to advise her and the county on how best to serve the county’s growing Latino population [and] created the first ever Office of Multicultural Affairs in Prince George’s County to better serve our immigrant communities, including the Latino immigrant community.”
The issue has opened a large rift between Alsobrooks and Pena-Melnyk who, as chair of the House of Delegates’ Health and Government Operations Committee is currently the county’s most high-profile Latino elected official. A strong supporter when Alsobrooks first ran for executive in 2018, Pena-Melnyk declined to endorse Alsobrooks’ re-election last year and also has refrained from making an endorsement of the county executive in the Senate contest.
“I think that the senator from Maryland should be an inclusive leader – one where everyone fits…in their tent,” Pena-Melnyk said of Alsobrooks in an interview last week. “And she is not.”
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