- Angela Alsobrooks is the Democratic candidate for Maryland’s vacant Senate seat.
- Although she serves on the countywide board, she has had to campaign hard across the state to raise her profile.
- Alsobrooks told BI he was “ecstatic” to win the primary in which he was heavily outfunded.
The essay is based on a conversation with Angela Alsobrooks, the county commissioner of Prince George’s County, Maryland, who won the Democratic nomination for her state’s vacant U.S. Senate seat. She defeated Rep. David Trone in the May primary. Self-funded Alsobrooks has poured more than $60 million into her campaign. Alsobrooks is facing off against former Republican Governor Larry Hogan in one of the most closely watched races in the general election. If elected, she would become Maryland’s first Black senator and the second woman to represent the state in the Senate. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.
By 8 a.m., I’ve probably done four or five times as much work every day. My mornings start early, but I’m a county manager so I’m very busy every day. I get up around 5:30 a.m. every day and finish around 9 or 10 p.m., working seven days a week.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever had a day off in a Senate campaign. I literally haven’t had a day off for at least six months.
“You can’t speak for people you don’t know.”
As a first-time statewide candidate, it took a lot of work to really get my name out there, and the model that we used here was person-to-person contact. I’m still fortunate to have so many grassroots supporters who helped me meet people, who invited me into their homes, their backyards, their coffee shops, their offices. And that’s exactly what we did.
I often say that I can’t represent people that I don’t know or understand. Going into someone’s neighborhood, going to a house of faith and talking to people, is really beneficial. It really helps me deal with issues in the future. It’s great preparation for the job of a United States Senator.
With undecided voters, I always start by listening. I often ask, “So, what’s most important to you?” I think it’s important to talk to them from their perspective and have a dialogue. There’s often a reason why people aren’t interested or haven’t made a decision, so the best question to ask first is, “What do you care about? What do you want me to know? What are the issues that are most important to you?” Then I can learn how to address those issues.
Election campaigns need discipline
I’ve been very disciplined about exercise during my campaign. I think exercise is really important. Even if I have to remind myself in the morning, I exercise. I exercise almost every day.
I keep to a pretty regular schedule with small meals for lunch and dinner, eat healthy meals, and try to get some sleep at night, with a pretty good bedtime, which means I don’t have much time to relax most days.
But I do believe it’s worth it to have the opportunity to represent people in a way that changes their lives.
That’s what I saw from my parents.
My dad worked night shifts as a paperboy for the Washington Post, and we’d get up at midnight or so to get the papers, load them on the truck, and deliver them until 2 or 3 in the morning, and he’d come home, get changed into a suit, and go out selling insurance and cars.
Interacting with voters “gives me the courage to continue”
One weekend, I was out campaigning on the Eastern Shore. I stopped into a deli where there was a woman working there named Anita. She took my sandwich order, and I started explaining to her, “I’m here campaigning. I’m running for United States Senate.” And she literally started jumping up and down. She hugged me, and we took a picture. She was so happy for me and wished me the best of luck.
If Anita is still optimistic about the future and believes representation is important to her and so many others, it just continues to inspire me to keep going.
My supporters didn’t flinch when I lost badly financially in the primary.
It was a really exciting primary outcome. I was ecstatic. I was so happy because so many people supported me even when things weren’t going so well. They were looking at the polls and the same newspaper articles I was looking at about where we stood in the race. And I can honestly say that my supporters never faltered. It kept all of us working hard, even when it seemed like we weren’t going to win.
We have a lot of young staff, so this was their first time campaigning. And believe me, they worked just as hard as me. They were there first thing in the morning, late at night, and on weekends. I felt like it was the people who won the primary. It wasn’t just me. Even when it seemed like our voices were being drowned out by a certain amount of money, people still showed up and made a difference.
