Maryland’s primary is Tuesday and so we see the campaign commercials in the D.C. area. But it got me thinking about the race. Not about the two candidates, because i don’t know either one of them. But about their historical counterparts.
Tuesday’s primary pits Trone—the founder of Total Wine & More and the biggest self-funder ever in a primary election—against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who is backed by the state’s governor and much of its political establishment. The winner will face the state’s popular former Republican governor, Larry Hogan, who won two terms in the solidly blue state and is hoping to help the GOP take back the Senate.
The Democratic contest has turned heated in the final stretch as tensions over money and racial politics hit a boiling point, with Trone stumbling into several controversies. Both candidates have cast themselves as better-equipped to keep the seat for Democrats, who have a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Polls show Alsobrooks within striking distance in the primary, despite Trone’s spending advantage.
[...]
The primary has turned into a battle over the state’s Black voters, who make up about 46% of registered Democrats and 24% of all registered voters in the state, according to L2, a nonpartisan vendor of voter data. Maryland has no women in its congressional delegation. In the nation’s history, three Black women, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have served in the Senate.
Former Maryland Governor Larry “Hogan’s surprise, last-minute entrance in February upped the stakes, with the still-popular former governor putting a once reliably Democratic seat into play by jumping into the race at the request of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) and the Republican Party.”
Perhaps because of the heightened stakes, the contest has turned increasingly negative as it has tightened, splitting Democrats in Congress and beyond. While congressional leaders have endorsed Mr. Trone, all but one Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation are backing Ms. Alsobrooks.
[...]
The race to replace Senator Ben Cardin, who is retiring after holding the seat since 2007, is now a dead heat. After leading in early polls, Mr. Trone is locked in a statistical tie with Ms. Alsobrooks, according to the latest survey from Emerson College. Both candidates have an early advantage in the poll over Mr. Hogan, a prized recruit of Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader.
“Nearly 1 in 3 of Maryland’s over 6 million residents is Black, living in the most diverse state on the East Coast — a typically blue electorate that has elevated Black people to key positions of power, but never to Congress’ upper chamber.”
Back in the 90s, i worked for a Senate Majority (and Minority) Leader. The biggest part of what i did was data collection/ dissemination, specifically for the class that was up for re-election that year, but for other senators at their request.
This was before Y2K, before VAN. I went to counties where voter records were not fully computerized, and counties where elections officers did not have complete control over voter records. I went to counties where elections offices didn’t have access to computerized voter records in *their* offices. But the one thing i learned was that every senator i dealt with wanted the same access and experience that every other senator had, whether they were running for re-election or not.
These reflections are based upon that experience.
While i was working for the Majority/Minority Leader, we used a truism that came from Sen. Warren Rudman’s observation that ‘there are some senators who know why they were elected, know what they wanted to do in the Senate and knew how to accomplish their goals. And there were other senators who knew why they were elected and knew that they wanted to accomplish but didn’t really understand how to do that. And, finally, there were senators who we didn’t think even knew why they were elected.’ These groups were roughly divided into thirds, with probably fewer members in the first third, and more members in the second third.
It’s pretty easy, though, to pick out the senators that are in that final third. Senators like George Allen (R-VA), Mark Dayton (D-MN), Lauch Faircloth (R-NC), Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), Scott Brown (R-MA), and David Perdue (R-GA). They didn’t leave much impression upon the Senate and weren’t missed when they were gone. You can be forgiven if you don’t remember their names, although there are a few you might recognize from their roles outside the Senate. For example, Mark Dayton wasn’t exactly a player in the U.S. Senate but had a notable career as governor. But the one thing that we could say about the senators who basically left little mark on the Senate was this: many of them came from careers outside of government, and were people (not all, but many) who came to the Senate thinking they were going to “make government run like a business.” Like their experience in business.
Now this idea is more than a hundred years old. I suspect it is a uniquely American idea, the thought that government should be, or can be run like a business. That success in business can be parlayed into success in government. And when you think about businessmen having that thought you should definitely remember Herbert Hoover, who ran on making government run like a business, long before Donald Trump tried that schtick. But there are people who have brought that idea to the Senate, as well. And they are mostly forgettable.
I probably wouldn’t have written this at all had not one of David Trone’s surrogates attacked his opponent (Angela Alsobrooks), saying she’d need “training wheels.”
The latest controversy centered on an attack ad from the Trone campaign that featured five Black Maryland elected officials, including one who said the U.S. Senate is “not a place for training wheels,” in a dig at Alsobrooks.
Now Trone’s big rationale for running is that he can beat former Governor Larry Hogan because he has all this money from his business, Total Wine. He’s served in Congress, but has been unremarkable there. It says something when you run for senate and most of your co-workers (fellow Members of Congress from your state) endorse the other candidate.
And i admit to be a little taken aback by a candidate who says he wasn’t responsible for something in one of his campaign ads. C’mon, man!
But that isn’t exactly my point. Not only do former businessmen have forgettable careers in the Senate, but Angela Alsobrooks is coming from a job (county executive of Prince George's County) where senators who went from that position had really impactful careers in the Senate. Al D’Amato represented New York as a Republican in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999. You may not have liked him, but no one can deny that he found his place in the senate and served his state and his party well while he was there. But he isn’t the only county executive to be elected to the Senate. Chris Coons did the same thing, as county executive of New Castle County from 2005 to 2010. Like D’Amato, Coons has shown himself to be one of those senators who know why they were elected, know what they wanted to do in the Senate and knew how to accomplish those goals.
There’s no way to guarantee that Alsobrooks will do the same, but there’s a pattern of success here. A pattern that is certainly better, historically, than the path that David Trone has taken. But here’s the thing: the U.S. House is not a training ground for the Senate. The House is much more hierarchal, with power emanating from the Speak to the Committee Chairs. There’s not a lot that a lowly backbencher in the minority party can do. Trone will require the same training wheels that Alsobrooks would. The fact that someone could suggest otherwise tells us something — and it might just be that the successful businessman doesn’t know what he is getting into. You know, like all those other successful businessmen before him, who failed to make an impression on the senate. We have nothing to indicate that Trone would make a more successful — and impactful — senator than Alsobrooks. Not a damn thing.
Who Democrats in Maryland elect tomorrow is up to them. And one reason why we can be so nonchalant about that is that either choice will beat Larry Hogan. Larry Hogan’s biggest asset is his name recognition, something that won’t be a factor come November. Whether voters choose Trone or Alsobrooks tomorrow, they will enter the general election as the favorite, simply because Maryland is a blue state (and, quite frankly, Trump will be at the top of the ticket). And that’s perhaps the biggest reason why the Democratic primary has become so nasty.
Sometimes a little history is worth reflecting upon…