Maryland’s bitter and expensive Democratic Senate primary will come to a close Tuesday, as voters choose the nominee for a race that could be key to deciding control of the chamber in November.
Democratic Rep. David Trone spent more than $60 million of his fortune from his wine retail store, swamping Maryland’s airwaves with campaign ads in his race against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who is vying to become the state’s first Black senator.
The primary race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin was expected to decide the next senator in the traditionally blue state. But former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to run for the seat put the race in play for Republicans, and both Trone and Alsobrooks have been making the case that they are best positioned to beat Hogan in the fall.
Trone said in one ad that he’ll use “every resource” against Hogan, and he’s raised questions about Alsobrooks’ odds against Hogan.
“I don’t think there’s any chance in this world that she’ll beat Larry Hogan,” he told NBC News in an interview last week, arguing that polling shows him faring better against the former governor.
But Alsobrooks’ allies, who include several of Maryland’s top Democratic officials, believe she can rally the coalition necessary to beat Hogan and provide a sharper contrast as a female candidate in a year in which abortion is expected to be a top issue.
Alsobrooks has also criticized Trone’s self-funding and argued that she has built grassroots support to overcome the millions he’s spent on the race.
“Nobody should be able to buy a seat,” she said in an interview with NBC News last week. “This is not what democracy looks like in this country.”
Hogan must first win his own primary, in which he’s facing perennial candidate Robin Ficker, who has self-funded his race. Ficker has outspent Hogan, a vocal Donald Trump critic, on the airwaves ads saying Ficker would “stand with President Trump.”
If he advances to the general election, Democrats plan to tie Hogan to the national GOP, particularly on the issue of abortion.
Hogan told NBC News he would not support a national abortion ban, and cast himself as a bipartisan dealmaker.
“I’m concerned about the country and frankly, the extremes of both sides,” he said in a recent interview with NBC News. “And i think we need more decent people that are kind of between — the right of center, left of center, moderates who are willing to try to work with people across the aisle to get things done.”
Republicans are expected to have an easier time picking up a Senate seat in West Virginia, where they will be selecting their nominee Tuesday. Former GOP Gov. Jim Justice has Trump’s endorsement in the race, in which he faces Rep. Alex Mooney. Two Trump-backed candidates are also expected to win House primary runoffs in North Carolina.
Elsewhere, Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon and West Virginia GOP Rep. Carol Miller are both battling primary challengers from their right. Miller is facing former state Del. Derrick Evans, who was convicted of a felony after storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Harry Dunn, a police officer who defended the Capitol that day, is running against veteran state legislators in a Democratic primary in Maryland’s 3rd District. Maryland is also hosting crowded Democratic primaries in two other deep blue House seats.
Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ET in West Virginia and North Carolina, 8 p.m. ET in Maryland and 9 p.m. ET in Nebraska.
