Angela Alsobrooks was nearing the end of another busy campaign push in late July, sweeping through four counties in two days.
Alsobrook, the Democratic Senate candidate in Maryland, shook hands and took selfie after selfie in near 100-degree heat. She stopped at a locally owned unisex hair salon and visited a clothing drive for children in foster care.
Alsobrooks also spent some time on the docks of a marina meeting with watermen and women from the Chesapeake Bay region, who are the lifeblood of the state’s seafaring culture and economy.
During her final campaign stop in the area, sea captain Tyrone Meredith offered her a tour of his fishing and charter boat, Island Queen II.
Alsobrooks, 53, didn’t hesitate. She’d swapped flat sandals for short rain boots and leaped across the narrow divide between dock and water to climb aboard. Meredith, a fifth-generation fisherman whose family roots in the area date to 1867, beamed as he showed off the vessel that represents both his livelihood and his heritage. Such exchanges on the campaign trail “give me joy,” said Alsobrooks, the county executive in Prince George’s County. “I want to represent people with all the passion I have.”
In the Democratic primary, Alsobrooks was outspent 10-to-1 by Rep. David Trone’s self-funded campaign; she still won handily. She now faces Republican Larry Hogan, Maryland’s former two-term governor, in November’s general election to fill the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin.
The race has become one to watch for its potential to reshape the makeup of the Senate, where Democrats have a razor-thin majority. The polling so far has found Alsobrooks with an edge but smaller than the lead Democrats usually hold in the state, according to an NBC News analysis of available data.
If elected, Alsobrooks, the mother of a college-age daughter, stands to make history. “We enthusiastically support her bid to be the first Black woman senator to represent the great state of Maryland,” said Glynda Carr, president of Higher Heights for America PAC, which works to elect Black female candidates nationwide. “We know she is a necessary voice.”
This election cycle, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Valerie McCray of Indiana also won Democratic primaries, and, if victorious, they would be the first Black people to represent their states in the Senate.
“Angela can help ensure that all Black women will have a voice in this body,” Carr said. “She will not only fight for Maryland, but she will also fight for all of us when she is elected to office.”Alsobrooks said that beyond potentially making history, she wants to shape policy in Congress. Her platform includes endorsing of a $15-per-hour minimum wage, health care for all, gun manufacturer accountability and abortion access.
“We are looking at a time that is like a time we’ve never seen before,” she said during her whirlwind campaigning. “This election will help us decide the kind of future we want for our children and grandchildren and what kind of state and country we will build for them.”
The two Maryland candidates for the Senate, who have contrasting visions on everything from public safety to tax relief, haven’t yet debated. Occasionally, sharp elbows have been displayed.
In a July opinion piece, Hogan wrote: “While my opponent will be a rubber stamp for her party bosses, Marylanders know me, and they know I have the courage to stand up to the current president, the former president, and the bosses in both parties. I will work with leaders on both sides of the aisle to deliver for Maryland.”
In response, the Alsobrooks campaign said: “Larry Hogan continues to mislead and misrepresent. Moves straight out of the Mitch McConnell playbook, which makes sense given Mitch recruited Larry.”
Alsobrooks continued stumping on the Eastern Shore, a rural, traditionally conservative area that stands in stark contrast with the suburban Prince George's County, where she currently holds office. She spoke to a multigenerational, multiracial cluster of people in front of Phat Daddy’s BBQ in Chestertown as the aroma of smoked meats wafted through the air. She shook hands with voter after voter, smiling for photos under the hot sun.
William Holland, the owner and CEO of Phat Daddy’s, operated a food truck for years before he opened a sit-down eatery in 2021. “We launched during the pandemic,” Holland said. “One important thing for me is taking care of my employees. When it’s slow, I don’t want to have to lay anyone off. I asked her about ways to help small-business owners like myself, and I appreciated that she listened.”
As the campaign event wrapped up in Chestertown, Alsobrooks’ team handed out literature and green, black and white campaign signs for lawns and windows.
In June, one of her signs was vandalized in what state Attorney General Anthony Brown described in a statement as “a hate-bias incident.” A large sign in Laurel was defaced with the letter “KKK,” and crosshairs in the shape of a target were painted on Alsobrooks’ image. Prince George’s County police told NBC News that the investigation remains open but that there have been no new developments regarding the vandalism.
Gina Ford, a campaign spokesperson, told the media: “We were made aware of this very unsettling incident, and our paramount concern is Angela’s safety. However, this sort of hateful threat will not deter Angela or her campaign.”
Indeed, there is a certain unflappable quality about Alsobrooks, a quiet confidence that seems to stem from the nurturing environment in which she was raised, a “quintessential American family” with loving parents and an older sister. Her father held down two jobs: In the mornings, he delivered newspapers. Later in the day, “he changed into his suit and would go sell insurance,” she told NBC News. “After losing his job, he became a car salesman.”
Her mother was a receptionist, employed over the years in local government and hospital settings. “I would go to the ER and wait for her to get off work,” Alsobrooks said.
The devoted parents stressed education and exposed Alsobrooks and her sister to fine dining, art and culture while instilling values such as religious faith and telling them that nothing was beyond their capabilities.
“We had so many outlets,” Alsobrooks said. “Dance, voice lessons and children’s improvisational theater. Church.”
In the ninth grade, after meeting peers involved in citywide student government, she was impressed and decided to run for treasurer.
“I had a real campaign. My campaign volunteers were my parents. They took me to the toy store, and I handed out candy wrapped in play money,” she laughs.
Alsobrooks won her very first election, then another as the student group’s president. Public service has been her calling ever since.
A few years later, Alsobrooks said her parents “cleared out their retirement accounts, budgeted and shared one car,” to pay her Duke University tuition. She later attended the University of Maryland School of Law and then honed her legal skills as a law clerk in the Howard County Circuit Court, and later the Baltimore City Circuit Court.
A pivotal position for Alsobrooks was becoming an assistant state’s attorney in Prince George’s County, and the first full-time prosecutor to handle domestic violence cases.
She went on to become the first woman and youngest person ever elected state’s attorney in the county. Under her tenure as top law enforcement officer, violent crime dropped. She also established a first-of-its-kind unit to investigate and prosecute police and official misconduct.Her political star continued to rise when she became the first woman elected to her present role as county executive for Prince George’s County, a suburban enclave outside of Washington, D.C., and one of the wealthiest majority-Black communities in the country. During her tenure, she has focused on job creation and economic opportunity; youth investment and education. She has also prioritized health care access, and providing mental health and addiction treatment.
Now, she says she is ready to take her experience to Capitol Hill.
She was one of the speakers who addressed the nation Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
When President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris visited Prince George’s County, Maryland last Thursday, Alsobrooks was among the officials who welcomed them.
Biden referred to her as “soon-to-be senator,” while Harris, a former senator herself who has endorsed Alsobrooks’ bid, told the audience, “I have worked with her over the years. … you’re going to do a great thing when you send her to the United States Senate.”
Back on the Eastern Shore, Alsobrooks shed her suit jacket. As seagulls soared overhead and boats bobbed in the waters, she took the opportunity to speak to yet another group of Marylanders about a range of issues, from protecting the environment and the Chesapeake Bay, to reproductive freedoms for women.
Jessica Mackler, president of Emily’s List, a PAC that backs Democratic, pro-choice women candidates, told NBC News, “We came out quickly and strongly with our support for her.”
Via its independent expenditure arm, Women Vote, the PAC has invested $2.6 million in the Alsobrooks campaign, Mackler said, some of which will underwrite ads highlighting the stakes of this race.
We “will do everything in our power to help her win and make history as the first Black senator from Maryland this November,” she said. Both candidates have received a wealth of endorsements. Hogan’s include state’s attorneys, sheriffs and small business owners; while labor unions, educational associations and civil rights organizations are among those that have predominantly backed Alsobrooks.
“Freedom is the thing that makes us American,” Alsobrooks said. “It is the thing that is foundational, the bedrock of our existence. It is our belief in human rights and integrity. These are the issues that really do bind us, and we know that this election will help us decide which direction our country will go in.”
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:
