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.
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.
With a quarter of the vote in, Alsobrooks and Trone were locked in race that is too close to call, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.
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.
Hogan won the Maryland GOP Senate primary Tuesday, NBC News projected, defeating self-funding perennial candidate Robin Ficker.
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 is a top recruit for Republicans looking to put the race in play, albeit a reluctant one.
“I must have said no like 50 times,” Hogan said of his decision to run in a recent interview with NBC News. He ultimately decided to jump in the race after a bipartisan proposal tying border security measures with aid for funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan stalled.
“It fell apart because people on the right of my party in the House were against it, and I’m going down to the fight against those people,” Hogan said.
Hogan said he was hesitant to run given the gridlock that often grinds Congress to a halt.
“I don’t really think it’s gonna be a lot of fun. But I think I’m uniquely qualified to make a difference,” Hogan said.
“I’m concerned about the country and frankly, the extremes of both sides,” Hogan later added. “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. I just think it’s what’s lacking in Washington.”
A vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, Hogan acknowledged he’ll have an uphill climb in a state that traditionally backs Democrats for federal office, noting, “The top of the ticket is probably not going to do that well.” President Joe Biden won Maryland by 33 percentage points in 2020.
Democrats are expected to attempt to tie Hogan to the national Republican Party, especially on the abortion issue. Hogan said he would not support a national abortion ban, calling the suggestion that he would be a deciding vote on the issue a “false attack.”
GOP eyes Senate pickup opportunity in West Virginia
Republicans are expected to have an easier time picking up a Senate seat in West Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is retiring.
GOP Gov. Jim Justice won his party's Senate primary on Tuesday, NBC News projected.
Justice, who was prevented from running for governor again due to term limits, won the backing of Trump and the GOP establishment. Pro-Justice super PACs ultimately spent more than $6 million on the airwaves to boost his candidacy.
But despite the Trump endorsement, Justice’s top opponent, Rep. Alex Mooney, remained undeterred, receiving a significant boost on the airwaves from the conservative Club for Growth, which spent $1.8 million on his behalf.
Now that Justice is the GOP nominee, he’s expected to cruise to victory in the fall and flip the seat for Republicans. Manchin has been seen as one of the only Democrats still able to win a statewide election in West Virginia, which has seen a massive political transformation in recent years. NBC News has not yet projected who the Democratic nominee will be.
In other primaries across the country, 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.
