Sen. Chris Van Hollen endorses Angela Alsobrooks in open

Maryland’s current junior senator, Chris Van Hollen, was in Silver Spring on Tuesday morning to endorse Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in the Democratic primary to join him in the U.S. Senate.

The unusual move comes months before the candidate filing deadline in the race to succeed Sen. Ben Cardin (D), who announced in May that he would not seek reelection in 2024.

Van Hollen said it didn’t take him long to decide that Alsobrooks is the best choice to join him on Capitol Hill.

“In a field of strong candidates, Angela Alsobrooks is a standout,” Van Hollen said. “And I base that on our long-time working relationship. I’ve had a chance to see her in action day-by-day, in good times and in bad times. And I also know because of that experience what moves her. I know her heart. And I know that she’ll be a great progressive partner in fighting for all the issues that Marylanders care about in the United States Senate.”

Van Hollen chose Alsobrooks over a current colleague in the state’s congressional delegation, Rep. David Trone (D-6th). Another top Democratic candidate in the race is Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D).

Candidates have until Feb. 9 to officially file campaigns.

Van Hollen lauded Alsobrooks for her local response to the COVID-19 pandemic, her “goal of building a dynamic, inclusive economy that works for everyone” and for being “tremendously successful” at working with federal lawmakers on transportation projects and other federal investments.

“What moves her is her passionate commitment to address the real-world challenges being faced by her fellow Marylanders in their daily lives and her determination to do everything in her power to help working families succeed. As the single mom of a teenage daughter and the caretaker of two aging parents, she relates directly to the struggles being faced by so many Maryland families,” Van Hollen said. “She understands the conversations happening at kitchen tables around our community, around our state and around our country.”

For her part, Alsobrooks called Van Hollen an “amazing partner,” friend and mentor.

“We both care deeply about delivering for the people that we represent, and few people do it better than Senator Van Hollen,” Alsobrooks said. “It is what we care about every single day, we recognize that there are people who rely on us … hard working families in Maryland, throughout our country, who rely on us every single day, to ensure that the issues that are of concern to them at their kitchen tables are the issues that are of concern to us as well. That each of us want to live in communities that are safe. We want true economic opportunity for all of our family members, for our children. To have access to health care. To have democracy defended. These are all of the values that we share in common.”

Alsobrooks was earlier endorsed by two other members of Maryland’s congressional delegation: Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) and Kweisi Mfume (D-7th).

Danielle Gaines covered government and politics for Maryland Matters for two years before moving into an editing position. Previously, she spent six years at The Frederick News-Post ― as the paper’s principal government and politics reporter for half that time, covering courts and legal affairs before that. She also reported for the now-defunct The Gazette of Politics and Business in Maryland and previously worked as a county government and education reporter at The Merced Sun-Star in California’s Central Valley.

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