[Baltimore Sun] Alsobrooks, Trone spar over donations; each vows only they can beat Hogan for Senate
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The thrust of the barbs traded during the largely cordial, but occasionally tense, U.S. Senate candidate forum featuring David Trone and Angela Alsobrooks on Friday were rooted in campaign funding and who has the ability to beat the likely Republican nominee, Larry Hogan.
A recent poll from The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 and the University of Baltimore’s Schaefer Center for Public Policy showed the multimillionaire Trone leading Alsobrooks by 19 percentage points among a sample of likely voters in the May 14 primary. They were the only two of the 10 candidates in the Democratic field to draw support in double digits. The poll’s nearly 1,300 likely general election voters favored Hogan over either Trone or Alsobrooks.
Pointing to that and other polls, Trone declared he is the clear Democratic candidate to take on Hogan, a popular former governor. Trone, a U.S. House member representing Western Maryland, pointing to areas in the state where he could have an edge, such as the Eastern Shore.
“Not one poll has ever said my opponent can beat Larry Hogan,” Trone said, “because she won’t.”
Alsobrooks, who is in her second term as Prince George’s County executive, brushed off her lower performance in the polls. She argued that it would be difficult for Trone to beat Hogan in light of millions of dollars Trone donated to Hogan in the past.
“What we don’t need is a Larry Hogan donor to take on Larry Hogan in the fall,” Alsobrooks said.
Alsobrooks also fired at Trone for injecting $41.7 million of his money into his campaign over the last year. Recent campaign finance reports show Trone outspending Alsobrooks 10-1.
“This race will be decided by the people,” Alsobrooks said. “By the many, not the money. Money can’t buy you love.”
Trone rebutted, saying that it would be difficult for Alsobrooks to vote in the Senate to tax large corporations — pointing specifically to Exxon, Pfizer and Cigna — because she accepted campaign donations from them.
Financial ties, abortion and the death penalty were among the other top points of contention in the hourlong forum sponsored by The Sun, FOX45 and UB’s Schaefer Center.
Sitting on the left, FOX45’s Mikenzie Frost and Roger Hartley, far right, with the University of Baltimore look on as Jeff Barker with The Baltimore Sun, center, poses questions as moderator Kai Jackson with FOX45 takes notes. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
Trone said that he was the only candidate in the race who has always opposed the death penalty.
“It’s clearly cruel and unusual punishment and it’s clearly racist,” Trone said.
Alsobrooks was asked about a case in which, as the state’s attorney for Prince George’s, she said in 2011 that she would seek the death penalty for a man charged with killing four people, including two children. While she answered the forum question by saying she would support a repeal of the federal death penalty, she did not acknowledge that she had sought capital punishment in the county case.
“I can tell you, in that case, I sought life without parole because, again, I believe that people who harm and murder children deserve the stiffest penalty possible,” she responded. “But I would not be supporting the death penalty on the federal level.”
After the forum, Alsobrooks senior adviser Connor Lounsbury said Alsobrooks had sought the death penalty in the earlier case. But as the legal proceedings unfolded, Maryland abolished its death penalty in 2013, he said, so Alsobrooks sought the next highest punishment: life without parole.
Abortion is on the ballot in November, when Maryland voters will decide if access to reproductive health care should be enshrined in the state constitution. It’s also a key talking point in the Senate race, because the outcome in Maryland could help flip the chamber from a Republican to a Democratic majority.
“There’s no role for the federal government to moderate and regulate a woman’s health choices,” said Trone as he pointed to his credentials with Planned Parenthood.
Invited guests watch U.S. Rep. David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks during the Sun/FOX45/UB U.S. senate democratic candidate forum at WBFF-TV’s studio. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
He also said he heads a foundation that recently helped open an abortion clinic in Cumberland, giving access to people seeking treatment in Western Maryland as well as drawing patients from nearby West Virginia.
Alsobrooks slammed Trone for having donated money to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, which has one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans.
“He cannot claim credit for the good his company does and distance himself from the bad that he does,” Alsobrooks said.
The forum can be replayed on baltimoresun.com, foxbaltimore.com and ubalt.edu. Also, the forum will air Saturday on FOX45 at 2 p.m., on WNUV-TV at 4 p.m., and on WJLA-TV in Washington from 11:35 p.m. to 12:35 a.m.
Baltimore Sun reporter Jeff Barker contributed to this article.
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