This article, published Dec. 4 at 11:10 a.m., was updated Dec. 4 at 1:34 p.m. to include survey results from Trone’s in-house pollster.
While few, if any, significant policy differences were evident as Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone of Potomac had their first face-to-face encounter in the contest for an open U.S. Senate seat, the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination nonetheless jabbed at each other’s records Sunday during a 90-minute forum in Alsobrooks’ home county.
Alsobrooks and Trone are competing in next May’s primary for their party’s nomination for the seat held since 2006 by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Baltimore), who announced his retirement last spring and has not endorsed a successor. The forum was sponsored by the Latino Democrats of Prince George’s County at Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg and they were joined on stage by a third Democratic contender, former telecommunications executive Juan Dominguez of Anne Arundel County.
Trone – who has increasingly sought to draw contrasts between himself and Alsobrooks in recent weeks, although in often indirect terms — escalated his criticism during the forum. As Alsobrooks sought frequently to highlight her efforts on behalf of the Latino community – which comprises nearly one-quarter of the population of her home county and neighboring Montgomery County – Trone was the first to go on the attack nearly a half-hour into the session.
After Alsobrooks declared, “Prince George’s County is a place that is beautifully diverse, as well as Maryland…and so we have prioritized inclusion in our administration,” Trone pounced on Alsobrooks’ record since she was first elected county executive in 2018.
“The facts are that, in [Alsobrooks’] first four years, in this county government, there was no representation in the top 39 positions by a Latino,” Trone said, echoing complaints by several local Latino elected officials.
And, after Alsobrooks pointed to her creation of a “first of its kind” office in her administration for liaison with the Prince George’s County LGBTQ+ community, Trone cited complaints from some members of that community about the Pride flag not being raised in front of the county office building during Pride month until this past summer – after Alsobrooks had announced for the Senate seat.
“The facts are that the LGBTQ community had no representation either in the first four years” of Alsobrooks’ tenure as executive, Trone charged. “As a matter of fact, the Pride flag went up at 3 in the morning after great controversy.”
A short time later, Alsobrooks – who throughout the early part of the campaign has taken subtle jabs at Trone without naming him—counterattacked when the candidates were asked about how they would respond if the Republicans nominated former President Donald Trump for a second term in that job next year.
Trone — a multimillionaire businessman who is co-owner of Total Wine & More, the country’s largest retailer of wine and spirits – boasted that he and fellow Rep. Adam Schiff had been “the two top donors” to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the political arm of the U.S. House Democratic Caucus, over the past decade. Trone claimed that, between his personal donations and Schiff’s fundraising, a total of $10 million had been funneled into the DCCC’s coffers.
“You heard a moment ago there have been millions of dollars donated to Democrats – I think it’s important to know as well that Mr. Trone has also donated to dangerous Republicans who have fought to ban abortion in our county,” Alsobrooks declared, telling Trone, “So it’s important that we not only not elect Donald Trump, but please stop contributing to dangerous Republicans.”
It was a reference to published reports that Total Wine & More, over the past three decades, has donated at least a quarter of a million dollars to Republicans in states where it does business – and has often been seeking to expand.
Trone responded by pointing to 100% ratings in his congressional voting score from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America. The latter organization has changed its name to Reproductive Freedom for All, and recently endorsed Alsobrooks. He then counterpunched, gibing, “I’d love to hear what County Executive Alsobrooks has done proactively besides talk about abortion in Prince George’s County.”
It was an allusion to private observations from some abortion rights advocates who have compared Prince George’s County to neighboring Montgomery County, which made $1 million in local grant funds available to facilitate access to abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling. Prince George’s did not offer similar financial support to local abortion services providers in the wake of that ruling.
The sparring between Alsobrooks and Trone prompted a wisecrack from Dominguez, who was seated between the two frontrunners. “I’m thinking that I might have to move my seat, because this debate… is getting real,” mused Dominguez, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Persian Gulf War who entered the contest three months ago as a longshot contender.
Dominguez injected another bit of levity in his closing statement, telling the audience: “Thank you for considering me for your choice to be the first Latino representative in the state from Maryland, ever. If you help me to do that, I will make sure that Angela is the next woman elected for sure.” Alsobrooks cracked a smile as the audience chuckled.
Alsobrooks, vying to be the first Black person to represent Maryland in the Senate, also would be the first woman in the Maryland congressional delegation since former Sen. Barbara Mikulski retired in 2016. She has emphasized the current lack of a female representation in the delegation throughout the campaign, and did so again Sunday.
“Maryland has a federal delegation that has 10 members to it – and we have a full male delegation,” she said. “I think it’s time to send a woman to Washington.” Her candidacy has garnered public endorsements from most of the state’s Democratic Party establishment, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Kensington, and three of the seven Democrats in the state’s U.S. House delegation: Reps. Steny Hoyer of St. Mary’s County, Glenn Ivey of Prince George’s County, and Kweisi Mfume of Baltimore city.
In addition, Alsobrooks – while responding to a question about federal government aid to the D.C. Maryland suburbs — also claimed the endorsement of a fourth Maryland House Democrat, retiring Rep. John Sarbanes of Baltimore County. While he has yet to endorse Alsobrooks publicly, Sarbanes is expected to do so in the coming weeks.
With another member of the delegation, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Baltimore County, backing his Maryland colleague, Trone, it leaves Rep. Jamie Raskin of Takoma Park – who in July took a pass on running for the open Senate seat himself – as the only uncommitted Maryland House Democrat in the contest for the Democratic Senate nomination.
In her closing statement, Alsobrooks – who has spent most of her career in the Prince George’s County government, including two terms as state’s attorney before her election as county executive–bristled at Trone repeated criticism of “career politicians” throughout the forum.
“It has been my great honor to have spent my career in public service, and in service to others,” Alsobrooks said, adding: “You’ve heard somebody talk about a career politician. I think it is just so intellectually dishonest – I just have to say it – for someone to be a three-term congressman still seeking more opportunities to be in public service, and to regard that and to speak about it in a disparaging way.”
Her remark came after Trone sniped at “career politicians” a half-dozen times during the forum, beginning with his opening statement, in which he said: “People need change. They want something different. The system’s not working for them, it’s not working for Americans all across this country – because we continue to elect career politicians who have only ever been politicians.”
He later escalated such rhetoric—apparently aimed in the direction of Alsobrooks – when he declared: “We’ve got to move faster, because the career politicians…move at the pace of an iceberg. I meant jut nothing gets done. The world can sometimes be burning down, and they don’t see there’s a fire.
“I have no desire ever to stay in this job long-term. It’s serve and then leave and go home – that was the founding fathers’ vision.”
For her part, Alsobrooks – as she has throughout the campaign – on several occasions Sunday took aim at Trone’s wealth, without mentioning him by name.
“I am running…because I believe that we have too few in the Senate of the United States who live like, think like or understand the daily cares and concerns of hard-working families here in our state,” Alsobrooks said in her opening statement. “The issues that are on your kitchen table are likewise on mine.”
She doubled down on that point later in the forum, saying: “The Senate of the United States is the wealthiest body in the country. …These people very often [could] care less about the everyday cares and concerns of people” they represent.
Responding in his closing remarks, Trone – who regularly appears on the lists of the 20 wealthiest members of Congress – sought to emphasize his modest background growing up on a Pennsylvania farm, as featured in TV ads he has aired early in the campaign.
“Folks say ‘Hey, Mr. Trone, he’s wealthy, he’s successful’,” Trone related. “When I grew up, we didn’t have a toilet in the house, when I was 11, 12 years old. I think we grew up with less probably than anybody on this stage.”
While Alsobrooks has been widely regarded as the frontrunner for the 2024 Democratic Senate nomination—due in part to her capturing of the lion’s share of endorsements by the party’s Maryland elected officials – the Trone campaign sought to put a dent in that conventional wisdom early Monday by rolling out a survey by its in-house pollster.
The poll of 1,000 likely Democratic primary voters by Hickman Analytics, was taken last week and shows Trone with a 41%-35% edge among those who say they are certain to vote. Due to the survey’s 3.1-point error margin, the results of the Trone-commissioned poll indicate that the race could currently be a virtual dead heat.
At this point in the election calendar—nearly five and a half months until the May 14 primary—the poll numbers may in significant measure reflect Trone’s advantage in name recognition among likely primary voters: 86%, as compared to 73% for Alsobrooks. Trone’s TV ad blitz in recent weeks could play into this: His self-financed campaign had spent $10 million through Sept. 30, and he has vowed to spend “what it takes” – reportedly upward of $40 million of his personal assets – to win.
In the days leading up to the Sunday forum, we examined 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