ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race between Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Larry Hogan turned to environmental issues Tuesday.
Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County Executive who is endorsed by the Sierra Club, visited flood-plagued Annapolis to attack former Gov. Hogan as weak on the environment, while Hogan’s campaign points to numerous climate accomplishments when he was governor, including resisting Donald Trump's efforts to gut funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup during his tenure.
The event in Annapolis was set amid sandbags sitting permanently outside some businesses, where a $100 million infrastructure project to raise levees and other flood barriers is viewed as a solution. Much of the project will be paid for by the climate- focused U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which received no Republican votes when it passed Congress in 2022. Hogan has not specifically said if he would have supported the Act, which providing an attack line for Democrats on environmental issues.
"If Larry Hogan is elected, he will be the vote that gives the Republicans in the Senate the majority," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), speaking in support of Alsobrooks. "That means Ted Cruz will be the chairman of the committee overseeing science."
The Hogan campaign provided a written response saying Hogan has a “commitment to advancing environmental stewardship and addressing climate change.”
"Gov. Hogan advanced numerous climate initiatives such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, the U.S. Climate Alliance, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, the Clean Water Commerce Act, the Clean Cars Act, the Pollinator-Friendly Solar Siting Act, the Maryland Healthy Soils Program Act, the Energy Innovation Act, and the Sea Level Rise Inundation and Coastal Flooding Act," said Hogan's spokesperson, Blake Kernan. "He held upstream polluters accountable and improved water quality in the Lower Susquehanna River, revitalized Program Open Space to preserve the state's many natural treasures, and stood up to the Trump administration to ensure full funding for the Chesapeake Bay program."
According to a 2023 report from the League of Conservation Voters, Hogan had an “excellent” record on funding land preservation and open space. The former governor was criticized in the report for weakening environmental regulatory agencies through understaffing and killing a big Baltimore transit project while supporting more highway projects. The report called hogan’s environmental record "inconsistent."
Alsobrooks’ environmental record as county executive includes heavy spending on sediment control, launching countywide composting and beginning the electrification of the county’s bus transit fleet.
As a U.S. Senator, Hogan has promised to keep a pipeline of federal funding for Chesapeake Cleanup going strong. Alsobrooks promises to support federal legislation to force the biggest carbon polluters to pay more for climate change mitigation.