Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) shook up the senior leadership team of her U.S. Senate campaign Tuesday, parting company with a highly touted national Democratic strategist and bringing in high-level operatives with ample experience in Maryland politics.
The developments come as recent public and private polls on the May 14 Democratic Senate primary have shown Alsobrooks slightly trailing her principal competitor, free-spending U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th).
Trone, a wealthy businessman, has already spent upwards of $10 million of his own money on the campaign, paying for a steady stream of TV ads throughout the state as well as slick mailers to targeted segments of the Democratic electorate, often boasting of his progressive policy priorities.
Although Alsobrooks has racked up dozens of endorsements from Maryland political leaders, including Gov. Wes Moore (D), Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D), U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) and the dean of the state’s congressional delegation, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D), several political professionals have privately fretted that her campaign has at times lacked focus and a compelling message — despite her own compelling life story. Many Alsobrooks supporters were caught off-guard when the teachers’ union, the Maryland State Education Association and its parent organization, the National Education Association, opted to endorse Trone earlier this fall.
The Alsobrooks campaign said Tuesday that it is replacing campaign manager Dave Chase with Sheila O’Connell, a veteran national political strategist who lives in Maryland and helmed Van Hollen’s first Senate campaign through the 2016 Democratic primary. Chase previously worked as campaign manager for the 2022 Senate campaign of then-Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who lost a high-profile battle but exceeded expectations in a Republican state.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters
