Senate Democratic Women Praise Rising Star Alsobrooks, Brainstorm Ways To Collaborate
The Senate hopeful's burgeoning fan club ranges from the president pro tem to the likely senior senator from Maryland
While she still has to beat former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan this fall to officially join the club, several of the Democratic women currently serving in the U.S. Senate told 24sight they have high hopes for primary winner Angela Alsobrooks and can’t wait to tap into her natural talents.
Alsobrooks is the Prince George’s County Executive who thumped Democratic Rep. David Trone by 12 points on Tuesday, denying the three-term House lawmaker a chance to switch chambers even though he poured $62 million of his own money into the preliminary contest. This November, she’ll face off against Hogan, the former two-term governor and vocal Trump critic, who some Republicans fantasized would run against the embattled former president for the nomination.
Alsobrooks has championed preserving abortion rights, combating climate change, advancing green energy projects, providing a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, and expanding health care coverage for all.
Her current crop of supporters is a who’s who of Democratic leaders, featuring endorsements from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Senate Appropriations Committee chair and Senate president pro tempore Patty Murray, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Laphonza Butler, and Maryland Democratic Reps. Steny Hoyer, Glenn Ivey, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin and John Sarbanes.
24sight interviewed half of the 16 left-leaning female lawmakers about what it would mean to have the first Black woman from the Old Line State join the Senate fold.
“There’s quite a few things we can work on,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said when asked about legislative priorities Alsbrooks could jump in on.
Duckworth said Alsobrooks should dive right in wherever she feels most comfortable. But as a mother of two who has worked for years to bring down maternal mortality rates and improve maternal care all around, Duckworth said she’s always looking for additional support.
“The maternal mortality rates are rising in this country, especially among women of color. So that would be one thing I would probably want to work with her on,” Duckworth told 24sight.
Some, like Sen. Mazie Hirono, admitted to not being fully plugged into Alsobrooks’ campaign. “I haven’t had a chance to talk with her. So I'm wishing her the best,” the Hawaii Democrat told 24sight.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said having Alsobrooks make history by becoming the first Black woman to represent Maryland in the Senate “would be incredible,” but noted that that’s just the first step.
“It brings an important voice,” the two-term lawmaker said.
“There's no doubt in my mind she would bring, not only the added voice, but she's intelligent. She's committed. And she already has a great record of service and giving back to her community,” Cortez Masto added.
When pressed about possible legislative team-ups, Cortez Masto suggested giving Alsobrooks some breathing room.
“I look forward to having that conversation with her when she gets here,” she told 24sight.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who served as governor of the Granite State (1997-2003) before making her way to Capitol Hill, also endorsed giving Alsobrooks the freedom to plot her own course post-Election Day.
“That's obviously something that would be left up to her – should she get elected,” the three-term lawmaker said of co-sponsoring bills together.
Butler, who is finishing out the term of late-Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California but isn’t running for re-election, called the coalition building Alsobrooks displayed in the primary win her “superpower.”
And while she didn’t have a legislative pitch to pass on to the prospective newcomer, Butler said Maryland voters – particularly those wary of GOP-backed abortion bans that have proliferated since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – should understand the assignment this fall.
“We have been watching extremists in this space since the Dobbs decision was leaked last May,” Butler told reporters at the U.S. Capitol, stressing that some GOP candidates “who had taken these very clear, very extreme positions” about abortion have subsequently “tried to erase their websites and strip their Twitter accounts and make sure nobody knew what they ever thought about the issue of reproductive freedom.”
She cast Hogan in with that lot.
“He is now going to try to convince Marylanders that he is going to stand and support them,” Butler said. But, she warned, he “will vote for a national abortion ban – if they have a majority.”
Hogan told the New York Times on Thursday that he backs codifying abortion rights into federal law, calling himself “pro-choice.”