MARYLAND, USA — Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks Maryland's next senator, The Associated Press projects.
Alsobrooks beat out former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R). She will replace 81-year-old Democrat Ben Cardin, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of this year.
She was born and raised in Prince George’s County, the same county she lives and works in now.
After law school at the University of Maryland, she worked in multiple counties in Maryland before returning to Prince George’s. She was Prince George's County's first full-time domestic violence prosecutor before eventually becoming the youngest person and first woman elected state’s attorney in the county. In 2018, she was elected Prince George’s County executive.
Alsobrooks is the third Black woman to ever be elected to the Senate – the first being Carol Moseley Braun, elected in 1992, and Kamala Harris, elected in 2016 – and Maryland’s first Black senator. Along with Lisa Blunt Rochester, who was also elected in Delaware, it is the first time more than one Black woman has served in the Senate at the same time. The two have also doubled the number of Black women ever elected to the Senate.
“The Historic nature of this race is not lost on me,” Alsobrooks told WUSA9 in an interview in May. “I can tell you that I know that voters will consider a number of factors. I think gender will be one of the factors, maybe race. I can tell you there will be other factors, especially experience. And when they consider experience, I think they'll find I have the best experience of anyone in this race.”
In electing Alsobrooks, Maryland continues its trend of voting Democrats into the Senate. The state hasn’t elected a Republican to the chamber since Sen. Charles Mathias (R) retired in 1987.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore released a statement Tuesday night, congratulating Alsobrooks:
“Angela Alsobrooks will fight every single day for the values we cherish as Americans – from the ability to have economic mobility and own more than you owe, to the freedom of feeling safe in your own skin and your own community, to having control over personal health care decisions.
“Maryland is better because of Angela Alsobrooks – and the United States Congress will be better because of her presence too. I knew that when I endorsed her, and I feel just as strongly today. Her fight is our fight.”
Alsobrooks campaigned on a variety of issues, including reproductive freedom, climate change, and health care.
As Senator, Alsobrooks said she would oppose any judicial nominee who doesn’t support reproductive rights. She also said she would protect the Affordable Care Act and work to expand Medicaid access.
Her win comes despite reports that she improperly claimed tax breaks she didn’t qualify for on two homes she owns in Maryland and D.C.
CNN reported in September that for years, Alsobrooks claimed a homestead tax exemption that is meant for a person’s primary residence on a property that was not her primary residence. The report also alleged that she claimed a tax break meant for low-income senior citizens on a home she owned in D.C. that previously was owned by her grandparents.
Alsobrooks responded to the report, saying she didn’t know about the credits. For the Maryland house, she said the homestead tax had mistakenly not been transferred when she moved. For the D.C. property, she said that she did not know that her grandmother had taken the claim and because she was paying through a mortgage company, she never saw the bills. One of her senior advisers told CNN that her attorneys are working with both the state and the District to resolve and pay back anything that she owes.