Maryland Democratic Senate nominee Angela Alsobrooks, left, meets former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, for the first time Tuesday at a Black history museum in Chicago. Photo by Josh Kurtz.
CHICAGO — Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) attended her first Democratic National Convention in 1992, in New York City.
She was an intern with the Congressional Black Caucus at the time, responsible for checking in delegates every evening.
But what Alsobrooks remembers most about that experience was hanging out in the almost-empty Madison Square Garden hours before the daily convention sessions began, watching the evening’s speakers practicing their speeches. She even caught Aretha Franklin rehearsing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which she performed on one of the convention nights.
Early Tuesday morning, Alsobrooks entered the near-empty United Center for a mic check of her own, ahead of her convention speech, which she delivered Tuesday night. It was a rare moment of quiet for Maryland’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, and a rare opportunity to reflect on the political journey she is on.
“To realize that all these years later, that I’m going to be speaking from that stage, it’s absolutely unbelievable,” Alsobrooks said in an interview about six hours before the speech.
It also felt like an inflection point for her long career of public service.
Alsobrooks’ battle for the open Senate seat against former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) was already consequential — and possibly critical to control of the closely divided Senate come January. National political strategists and analysts have already been watching closely.
But Alsobrooks’ convention speech, delivered in prime time and engineered by the campaign team of Vice President Kamala Harris, is almost certain to boost Alsobrooks’ visibility nationally, and by a measure of degrees.
Maryland already has one history-making, charismatic, telegenic Black statewide elected official with a growing national profile – Gov. Wes Moore (D). Assuming Alsobrooks beats Hogan in November, she’ll be the second.
But this week, even though the high-wattage Moore has been a hot ticket as he moves about Chicago, talking to state delegations and myriad other groups, Alsobrooks in a certain way has been more prominent. Unlike Moore, she’s in cycle this election year, and she’s a friend and protege of Harris, a fellow prosecutor, and is aiming to join her in a very exclusive club of Black women to serve in the U.S. Senate.
So is the 53-year-old Prince Georgian ready for the rocket ride she’s about to embark on? She considered the question carefully.
“I’ve always known how important this opportunity was and I hope it’s been reflected in the work I’ve been doing,” she said, quickly adding, about the Senate campaign, “This is something that’s required more work than anything I’ve ever done.”
Alsobrooks conducted a few quick interviews Tuesday afternoon in the lobby of the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center on this city’s South Side. She was heading into a joint fundraiser there with U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), who is heavily favored to win a Senate seat this fall. The event was headlined by two of the three Black women who have ever held Senate seats: California Sen. LaPhonza Butler and former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. (Harris is the third.)
Alsobrooks met Moseley Braun for the very first time just as she was beginning to chat with reporters from Maryland Matters and Essence magazine Tuesday. Their greeting felt like a piece of history in a building brimming with history, including photos of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1966 residency in Chicago, and a whole room dedicated to Harold Washington, the first Black mayor of Chicago.
“It’s such an honor meeting you,” Alsobrooks told Moseley Braun, who is 77 years old and the first Black woman ever elected to the Senate, in 1992 — the same year Alsobrooks was volunteering at the Democratic convention.
“Thank you for doing this,” Moseley Braun, a lifelong resident of the South Side, replied. She then offered to do anything she could to help see Alsobrooks elected. “I’m your servant.”
Moseley Braun, a board member of the Black history museum, quickly directed Alsobrooks’ attention to a plaque in the museum lobby honoring Margaret Burroughs, a Chicago writer and artist credited with launching the cultural institution by raising money for it and persuading Chicago authorities to donate the building where the museum is housed.
“She got slapped down so many times and she kept coming back,” Moseley Braun explained.
“That’s what happens,” Alsobrooks agreed.
Moseley Braun said she “could not be more pleased” to be meeting and mentoring Alsobrooks, and offered some advice.
“People don’t understand how much work goes into representing a whole state,” she said. “You’ve got to reconcile all these competing interests. It’s a big job, but I think you’re up to it.”
After introducing her 19-year-old daughter, Alex, to Moseley Braun, Alsobrooks said she is taking comfort moving in tandem this election season with Blunt Rochester, who is bidding for a Senate seat in neighboring Delaware. She said that while they had met in passing a few times, they didn’t have a lengthy conversation until earlier this election cycle, when they sat down for lunch.
“It’s been so great to have her as a partner running for office,” Alsobrooks said. “So much goes unspoken [when they meet], because we have the same experiences.”
Alsobrooks also brightened when she learned she was being interviewed by a reporter from Essence.
“This is, of course, where I first read about Kamala Harris, in 2009!” she said.
Alsobrooks was a prosecutor at the time, preparing to run for Prince George’s County state’s attorney, and Harris was the district attorney in San Francisco, preparing to run for California attorney general. Alsobrooks said she was spellbound, reading about Harris’ record promoting restorative justice initiatives and using data to fight crime.
“Two days after the [2010] election, I was in my office and my phone rang, and it was Kamala Harris,” she recalled. “I was totally elated.”
Since then, Harris has served as a mentor and trusted adviser to Alsobrooks.
“I am more grateful than I can express,” Alsobrooks said.
‘The joy will be led by Kamala Harris’
Alsobrooks’ convention speech added more details about her relationship with Harris and the influence she has played in her career. But first, she took time to talk about her own family’s humble history.
“People like me with stories like mine don’t usually make it to the United States Senate, but they should,” Alsobrooks said, describing how her grandmother taught herself to type and got a government job, even though she couldn’t afford a typewriter.
“She took the test, passed it and got the job she dreamed of,” Alsobrooks said. “I am her legacy…. I’ve always been inspired by women like my grandmother, women who imagine a better future and then have the grit to make it a reality. One of those women is a friend, a mentor, and a role model. That woman is Kamala Harris.”
Alsobrooks called Harris “this super-bad district attorney. I talked about her nonstop on the campaign trail.”
Alsobrooks then pivoted from talking about Harris’ prosecutorial experience to talking about former President Donald Trump.
“Getting justice for others isn’t a power trip for her — it’s a sacred calling,” she said. “And hear me, Kamala Harris knows how to keep criminals off the streets. And come November, with your help, she’ll keep one out of the Oval Office.
“Ever since Donald Trump rode down that ridiculous escalator, we as a nation have felt trapped,” she said. “Every national decision has been made in reaction to this one man and his extremist MAGA movement. We are still frozen by the fear that Donald Trump might once again come to power. And it’s not just our politics that’s been trapped. It’s our imagination.
“And then, Kamala came along. Kamala has reminded us that we don’t need to fear anything. Not the future and certainly not that man. This is our moment to leave Donald Trump where he belongs: in America’s past.”
Harris, Alsobrooks concluded, will change the tone in America.
“Morning is coming,” she said. “Morning is coming. And that joy will be led by Kamala Harris.”
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