By Adam Pagnucco.
In Maryland’s U.S. Senate primary, both leading candidates have gone negative. Prince George’s County Angela Alsobrooks has been pounding Congressman David Trone in her fundraising emails for weeks, alleging that he is trying to buy the election. Now Trone has responded with a new TV ad featuring Prince George’s County elected officials praising him and criticizing Alsobrooks.
First, let’s review the one minute ad (from Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood’s X post) and its transcript.
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Narrator: Since David Trone is running against Prince George’s County Executive, we asked the opinion of elected officials from Prince George’s County.
State Senator Joanne Benson: When we look at both candidates, the one deciding factor for me is to look at the track record.
Former Prince George’s County Council Member Derrick Leon Davis: I see David doing things and I see Angela Alsobrooks here in Prince George’s County often not.
Prince George’s County Council Member Krystal Oriadha: What he’s done in Congress is what he’s going to do in the Senate.
Prince George’s County Council Member Edward Burroughs: The U.S. Senate is not a place for training wheels.
Benson: David Trone cares about those who are senior citizens who need medicine. Homelessness, hopelessness. The candidate that he is running against has not displayed that characteristic.
Burroughs: Then you come out and run for U.S. Senate and call yourself a progressive, the record does not reflect that whatsoever.
State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy: I know that we need to keep the majority in the Senate. We have a former governor who is running for the party of Trump. Congressman David Trone is our best shot to defeat Larry Hogan. Period.
Trone: I’m David Trone and I approve this message.
In Md’s US Senate race, @davidjtrone‘s new ad features Prince George’s politicians criticizing his rival, PGCo Exec @AlsobrooksForMD. She tells me: “The reason that he’s spending his money now trying to attack me is bc he knows what we know, which is that we’re winning this race” pic.twitter.com/kKRJ2y6YVE
— Pamela Wood (@pwoodreporter) April 27, 2024
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A few observations.
First, all of the elected officials in the ad aside from Davis appeared in Trone’s recent mailer touting his Prince George’s County endorsements.
Second, Burroughs and Oriadha are part of this term’s progressive majority on the Prince George’s County Council. This ad is in part an attack on Alsobrooks from the county’s left – a rift that benefits Trone.
Third, there are financial links between Trone, Braveboy and Benson. Braveboy’s state campaign finance account shows a $2,000 contribution from David Trone on 8/7/23 and another $2,000 contribution from Trone’s wife on 9/11/23. Benson’s state campaign finance account shows a $1,000 contribution from David Trone on 7/16/19, a $1,000 contribution from David Trone for Congress Inc. on 12/21/20 and a $970.61 contribution from David Trone on 12/12/23. Trone’s federal account also reports a $1,000 contribution to Benson on 12/4/23. Check out the screenshots below (in which I redacted Trone’s home address).
Finally, at least three of these officials appeared in prior ads for Trone. Check out these videos featuring Benson, Davis and Oriadha. Pay special attention to their background settings and clothes. They look identical to the settings and clothes in which they appear in the new ad.
Why does this matter? The above ads were published on Trone’s YouTube account 11 days ago, 3 weeks ago and 2 months ago respectively. They could have been filmed before those dates. What if the footage for the new attack ad was recorded long ago? If so, was it held in reserve until the final days of the campaign? And what about Alsobrooks’s internal poll showing her closing the gap with Trone? If Trone’s own polls show her gaining on him, is this ad a response designed to hold her off?
All of this suggests that both candidates view this primary as a close race and are pulling out all the stops to win. Trone in particular can afford to cut new negative ads and spend millions pushing them out in both the Baltimore and Washington TV markets.
It’s an election for the ages. Who will win?