Hogan’s entry into the race forced Democrats to play defense in a solidly blue state
Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George’s County, defeated former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in an unusually close contest for Maryland’s open Senate seat being vacated by outgoing Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.).
Alsobrooks led Hogan by 54.6 percent to 43.3 with 52 percent of the vote reported Thursday evening when the Associated Press called the race, capping an unexpectedly competitive race in a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican senator since 1980. Hogan, a popular two-term Republican governor, entered the race in February, turning what should have been an easy victory for Democrats into a hard-fought battle to retain their stranglehold on Maryland’s representation in the Senate.
Hogan’s entry into the race gave Republicans a fighting chance to block Democrats from an easy win in Maryland, which would have dashed all hopes for the Democrats to retain their slim control of the Senate. Hogan, a popular two-term governor who left office in early 2023 with a stratospheric job approval rating of 77 percent of Marylanders, received a deluge of support from outside groups, including Maryland’s Future, a super PAC that raked in more than $30 million to support the former Republican governor.
Heavy Republican spending in support of Hogan forced Democrats to match with their own cash infusion to keep Alsobrooks above water. WinSenate, a Democratic political action committee linked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, dumped $1.1 million worth of ads to defend Alsobrooks in the final weeks of the contest.
Though Hogan had the best shot out of any Republican to take Maryland’s open Senate seat, it was an uphill battle from the start. This statewide race was Hogan’s first in a presidential election year—he secured his two gubernatorial terms during midterm election years. He made strides distancing himself from former president Donald Trump, a deeply unpopular figure in deep-blue Maryland. Hogan refused to endorse the former president and pledged to govern in the Senate as a John McCain-style independent willing to work across the aisle, including throwing his support behind legislation to codify Roe v. Wade that would guarantee nationwide abortion rights up to 26 weeks.
Political analysts said in the leadup to the election that Hogan would need anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of Democratic voters to crossover and support his candidacy. In the end, it was too steep a climb for Hogan.
Alsobrooks and Democrats effectively countered Hogan’s messaging, telling voters that they shouldn’t trust Hogan’s pledge to govern as an independent and that Alsobrooks was the only person stopping Republicans from taking back control of the Senate.
“Republicans see Hogan as a ticket to national abortion ban,” Alsobrooks said on the campaign trail. “They believe that road runs through Larry Hogan and runs through the state of Maryland.”
Alsobrooks will assume office in the Senate with significant baggage from her campaign. Alsobrooks, who has pledged to crack down on tax handouts for wealthy Americans, was dogged in the final weeks of the contest over her failure to pay her fair share of taxes on her former Washington, D.C., rental property. Alsobrooks improperly claimed tax exemptions meant for senior citizens and primary residents of the district, landing her a $47,500 bill for back taxes and interest in late September. She also engaged in a curious paperwork maneuver involving her mother and grandmother that saved her an additional $4,000 in taxes when she obtained the property in 2003.
The tax bill was due on Oct. 31, but Alsobrooks missed the deadline and still owed nearly $30,000 of the bill in the final days of the election. She told reporters on Saturday she was “still working” to pay off the remaining balance.
And on Monday, the National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee demanding it investigate Alsobrooks for errors and omissions in her financial disclosure statements, including her alleged failure to disclose her tax liability in her public filings, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The group said in its complaint that Alsobrooks’s reporting discrepancies in her financial disclosures are so egregious that the Senate Ethics Committee may have to refer Alsobrooks to the Department of Justice “for the imposition of civil or criminal penalties” should it launch an investigation.
