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After she has greeted every man, woman, and child in the vicinity, we jump into a discussion of the lifelong Marylander’s motivations and values as well as the distinctions between herself and her Republican opponent in this race—but first we talk chartreuse. 

Despite the traditional blue that represents the Democratic Party, and well ahead of ‘brat’ summer, Alsobrooks has embraced this unusual hue as her signature color. According to the candidate, the color was recommended by her friend Ola Hill in 2009, who insisted that her first campaign be extraordinary in every way possible. 

“The color has been distinctive and Ola was right about it,” says Alsobrooks when we sit down together in a quiet corner of the Baltimore War Memorial Building across from City Hall. “It’s a color that stands out. People can see us coming from a mile away. We’ve been in chartreuse since 2009, our signature color since our first race in 2010. This is the color of life, right? Personally, I love it.” 

The color is now being used by the Harris presidential campaign in conjunction with Charli XCX’s pronouncement that “Kamala is brat,” but it should be noted that Alsobrooks was decades ahead of the trend, and that this visionary sensibility is broadly applicable to her career arc thus far. 

Angela DeNeece Alsobrooks (1971) was born and raised in Prince George’s County, MD. She graduated from Duke University and immediately attended law school in Baltimore at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. “After I graduated, I was a law clerk on the Baltimore City Circuit Court and I worked with Judge Quarles, a great experience,” she says.

“That court was where I decided to go back to Prince George’s County and work as a prosecutor,” says Alsobrooks. “I started as a domestic violence prosecutor. What I learned from those thirteen years in the courtroom is that so many people are seeking second chances, especially those who never really had a first chance at success.” 

The candidate explains that when she talks about opportunity, for her this means removing barriers to success through education, mental health care, addictions care, economic development, and law enforcement in order to ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to use “whatever gifts they have.” 

Alsobrooks was elected State’s Attorney of Prince George’s County in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. She has served as Prince George’s County Executive since 2018. She defeated former U.S. representative Donna Edwards in the 2018 Democratic primary election and ran unopposed in the general election. Alsobrooks was re-elected in 2022.

“This work has been a privilege for me,” she says, confiding that she grew up in a hardworking family where her father was a car salesman and her mother was a receptionist.

“As county executive, we built ten schools in the first three years of my time in office—and this year we are breaking ground on another eight. So we will have built eighteen schools in a six year period. I think it’s so important for children to be educated in buildings that benefit their dignity.” 

Alsobrooks cites the creation of economic opportunities as a key issue for her in Prince George’s County, but sees its relevance in Baltimore and across the state of Maryland. “We have the opportunity to continue to make the kinds of investments that will make Maryland’s largest city more and more successful,” she says. “That includes transportation dollars that are critically necessary to draw investment to this city.” 

She notes that Baltimore has recently been designated a technology zone by the federal government, just one of thirty around the country out of over 400 applications. “It was hard earned,” she says. “Now we have the opportunity to become a major tech hub, rich with potential in Baltimore.” Alsobrooks says that these kinds of strategic investments need to continue, in order to make sure that “every corner of the state is given similar opportunities.” 

“What I have come to find out is that, across the state, everyone wants the same things for our families: safety, education, opportunity, equality,” she says. “So the way I approach a visit to Baltimore City is the same way I approach Garrett County.”

As the Democratic candidate in the upcoming 2024 United States Senate election in Maryland, Alsobrooks first won her party’s nomination in a contest with US representative David Trone. Now, she faces former Governor Larry Hogan in the general election and the stakes could not be higher. 

Maryland has reliably sent two Democrats to the US Senate for the past forty years. The last time Maryland had a Republican in the US Senate was in 1987, when Charles McC. Mathias, Jr. served from 1980-87 alongside Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes.

Today we are experiencing a dysfunctional political climate, where the Republican party is  willing to block even their own signature legislation for political gain and have appointed unqualified partisan judges who have stripped away long established rights, like voting access and a woman’s right to abortion health care. 

In 2024, Maryland’s US Senate race could determine which party controls the Senate and the nation’s legislative agenda. Without a Democratic Senate, a Harris presidency will be blocked from passing even the most basic, popular laws that a majority of Americans want—like common sense gun laws and the ability to vote via absentee ballot.

Although Larry Hogan was a popular governor in Maryland and has positioned himself as a moderate compared with MAGA extremists, a Republican controlled Senate will set our national agenda. This means that Republicans will block any legislative progress that might be perceived as Democratic success, and make it extremely difficult for a Harris presidency to accomplish its key goals.

When I ask Alsobrooks to talk about what makes her different than her opponent, despite his attempt at rebranding as a moderate, she points out that Hogan’s Republican agenda was kept in check by a Democratic General Assembly, which continually overrode his vetoes in order to pass the legislation that Maryland majorities wanted. 

“We need to be clear about what his record is, aside from what he says,” Alsobrooks explains. “Larry Hogan was not a moderate. His actions and rhetoric don’t match up. Regardless of his stance on individual issues, he would empower a party that is pushing for a national abortion ban, that does not support sensible gun legislation to stem the tide of violence, a party that is against voting rights, and has appointed conservative judges who are undermining LGBTQ rights.”

“Hogan has said that, as a US Senator, he wants to be like Joe Manchin,” she explains. “And that is the last thing we need, someone blocking progress. We need to be able to appoint cabinet members. We need President Harris to be able to get legislation passed. And we cannot continue to appoint unqualified judges. Not just the Supreme Court, I’m talking about lower court and appellate judges, too.”

“One of the major differences between us is that I am solidly in support of reproductive freedom and I have never wavered on that support, not for a single moment,” she says. “I have a 19-year-old daughter and it just upsets and frightens me that her generation is confronting a world where they have fewer rights than their parents. This means that I will be fighting for reproductive freedoms, not just fighting for Maryland, but for women across the country.” Alsobrooks says she will be supporting the Women’s Health Protection Act in order to ensure that reproductive freedom is the law of the land.

Another key difference between Alsobrooks and Hogan is transportation policy, with Alsobrooks strongly in favor of investing in public transportation whereas as Governor in Maryland, Hogan canceled plans for much needed public transportation in Baltimore and instead invested in highways. “I have spent my time as county executive working to attract investment to the state, working with our federal delegation to fight hard, for example, to bring the national FBI headquarters to the state of Maryland. I fought to bring transit dollars to the New Carrollton Metro, while my opponent sent back $900 million to the federal government that was designated for public transportation in Baltimore and then redistributed another $736 million that he had gotten from the state for that same transit project.” 

“I want to make it clear that I will be a senator representing the entire state of Maryland, and every part of the state needs to feel represented,” she says. “I understand that the cares and concerns of the people of Baltimore are very similar to the cares and concerns of the people I have represented in Prince George’s County, as well as the cares and concerns of people all over the state. The transportation concerns of Baltimore, believe it or not, are similar to what I’ve heard when I’ve gone to the Eastern Shore, to western parts of the state.”

Alsobrooks smiles and takes a deep breath. “I am working hard and I’m feeling very optimistic.”

“We understand what this election is about and it’s much bigger than me and Larry Hogan. Whoever holds the majority in the Senate controls the legislative agenda for our country. Our two parties’ agendas could not be any more different at any time in history than right now. They are a revisionist party and they want to take us backward, and we want to go forward. We are not going back.”