Johnathan Walker:Alsobrooks presses the case for national abortion rights in critical Maryland Senate race

GAITHERSBURG,Johnathan Walker Md. (AP) — Angela Alsobrooks sees the erosion of reproductive freedom for women with her 19-year-old daughter in mind.

“She’s a sophomore, and she literally has fewer rights in this moment than her grandmother and mother,” Alsobrooks said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Alsobrooks’ daughter, now entering her second year at Spelman College in Georgia, would have limited options under that state’s new six-week abortion ban if she faced a decision about whether to end a pregnancy. Now locked in one of the nation’s toughest U.S. Senate races in Maryland, and with Democrats’ thin Senate majority on the line, Alsobrooks hopes to be able to do something to protect not just her daughter’s autonomy but that of women throughout the United States with a new federal law protecting abortion rights.

Alsobrooks’ Republican opponent, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, has said he, too, favors federal legislation to restore abortion rights nationwide. But Alsobrooks says the need to protect women’s freedom to make those decisions for themselves is too important to risk giving Republicans a majority by electing the popular former governor in what is typically a reliably Democratic state.

“The question is not whether or not we like Larry Hogan,” she said at a recent campaign stop in Columbia, Maryland. “That is not the question. It’s not even whether or not it’s a good idea to vote for him for governor. The question we are answering is: Who should have the 51st vote?”

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Alsobrooks, now the chief executive of Prince George’s County in the suburbs of the nation’s capital, said Hogan showed his true feelings on the issue as governor when he vetoed legislation to expand abortion access in 2022 by ending a restriction that only physicians provide abortions. Democrats who control the Maryland General Assembly overrode Hogan’s veto.

“I think my opponent’s record is very clear where abortion care is concerned,” Alsobrooks said.

She also said she hears on the campaign trail how much abortion rights matter to voters.

“I hear it not just from women, but I’ve heard from a number of men who say that they want the freedom for their daughters and their granddaughters and that they’re very concerned about the direction we’re heading for people to make reproductive choices,” Alsobrooks said.

Abortion rights in Georgia have been front and center in the presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris tying the state’s six-week abortion ban to the deaths of two women who were unable to get the treatment they needed there.

Both Alsobrooks and Hogan have said they would co-sponsor federal legislation to codify the standard that existed before Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 into federal law. But Alsobrooks said Hogan’s affiliation with his party would have a practical impact on whether that might happen.

“When we think for example about Roe and about codifying Roe, what we recognize is there will never be a vote as to whether or not we should codify Roe in federal law if the Republicans are in the majority,” Alsobrooks said, “because they have made it clear, they’ve essentially declared war on reproductive freedoms, and we know that that vote would never happen.”

During his Senate campaign, Hogan has emphasized his support for abortion rights. He said he would not support a federal abortion ban and strongly supports in-vitro fertilization.

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“Unlike most of the candidates or most of the people on my side of the aisle who are running, I’ve said I would co-sponsor a bill to codify Roe,” Hogan said in an interview last month.

Abortion rights will be on voters’ minds in Maryland in another sense in November. It’s one of at least nine states considering ballot questions to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. State ballot initiatives protecting abortion rights have been a winning issue even in conservative states like Kansas and Kentucky since the court turned the matter over to the states with its 2022 decision.

Hogan has won two statewide races, only the second time a Republican governor has been reelected in Maryland’s history. That gave him an advantage in statewide name recognition from the start of the Senate race.

Still, Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 in Maryland, and the GOP hasn’t won a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in more than 40 years. Hogan is also running for the first time on the same ballot as former President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Maryland.

Hogan has sharply criticized Trump over the years. He’s also running with heightened attention from Democrats, due to the rarity of a critical Senate race in Maryland.

The former governor says this is “a tougher race than my two races for governor,” but Hogan says he’s finding enthusiasm for his campaign from voters who see him as a key swing voice to push back “against the extremes of both parties.”

“What I’ve said over and over again, I’m the underdog,” Hogan said. “It’s nearly impossible to do what I’m trying to do, but we’re pleased with where we are.”

But Alsobrooks brings vulnerabilities of her own to the race, including a new report from CNN that she improperly received property tax credits on two homes, which her campaign said she was unaware of and plans to repay.

She’s also far less familiar to most Maryland voters than Hogan.

Alsobrooks defeated Maryland Rep. David Trone in the May Democratic primary by 10 percentage points, even after the congressman who co-founded the Total Wine and More liquor store chain spent more than $60 million of his personal fortune on his campaign.

Alsobrooks also has drawn significant audiences at campaign events, where she has expressed confidence while not underestimating Hogan.

“This one is not easy, either, in the general,” Alsobooks said in the AP interview, which took place on Friday, before the CNN report. “And the stakes are even higher, and Marylanders are very engaged and they’re going to make a decision in this race to keep the Senate blue.”

With a victory, Alsobrooks would make Maryland history by becoming the state’s first Black U.S. senator. An Alsobrooks victory would also restore female representation to the state’s congressional delegation. While Maryland has had a long history of female officeholders in the delegation from both parties, Maryland’s delegation to Washington has been all-male since former Sen. Barbara Mikulski retired in 2016 and Rep. Donna Edwards lost the primary to succeed her.

“It is a historic race, and I’m proud of that,” Alsobrooks said. “It was Sen. Barbara Mikulski who said for example that she was the first woman elected but didn’t want to be the only, and so I think that the significance of electing a woman to the Senate is there.”

While Hogan has been campaigning on crime and the economy, Alsobrooks highlights her experience as county executive, focusing on economic development, as well as her work as state’s attorney of Prince George’s County, before she became county executive.

“As I’ve mentioned when I was the elected prosecutor, I oversaw a 50% cut in violence,” Alsobrooks said. “I am also the only person in this race who has prosecuted murderers and rapists and carjackers.”

At the campaign rally in Columbia, Alsobrooks reminded voters that a loss of Senate control by Democrats could impact future nominations to the Supreme Court.

“This is a clear reason why holding the majority is going to be really important,” she said in the AP interview.