2024-08-22 04:45:02
Angela Alsobrooks strode to the lectern at the United Center in Chicago Tuesday night, clad in a white suit and ready to make a forceful case for Kamala Harris — her friend and mentor — to be the next president of the United States.
For eight minutes, all eyes in the political world were on Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive who is running for an open seat in the U.S. Senate representing Maryland. Alsobrooks used her time to tell part of her own personal story as well as to boost the candidacy of Harris.
Here are highlights of Alsobrooks’s brief moment in the spotlight.
A relationship with Harris
Alsobrooks recalled how she met Harris, some 14 years ago.
As a candidate for state’s attorney in Prince George’s County, Alsobrooks was inspired reading about some of Harris’ policies and strategies in Essence magazine, particularly her focus on helping nonviolent offenders while also holding violent offenders accountable.
“After reading about this super-bad district attorney, I talked nonstop about her on the campaign trail,” Alsobrooks said, using one of her favorite complimentary terms for high-achieving women.
Shortly after winning the race for state’s attorney in 2010, Alsobrooks fielded a call from Harris, who herself had just been elected attorney general for California.
“How can I help?” Harris offered.
From there, a friendship and mentorship was born that continues to this day. Alsobrooks said Harris helped her bring post-prison reentry programs to Prince George’s County that helped reduce recidivism.
The two politicians have supported one another and campaigned for one another. They’ve appeared multiple times together this year.
And Alsobrooks said Harris, as a former prosecutor, is the right choice to defeat Donald Trump in the general election.
“Hear me: Kamala Harris knows how to keep criminals off the streets,” Alsobrooks said. “Come November, with your help, she’ll keep one out of the Oval Office.”
‘Not going back’
It was no surprise that the Maryland delegation at the convention, with front-row seats near the stage, would offer hearty applause and cheers for Alsobrooks.
But she got the whole crowd going with a series of statements ending with the phrase “not going back,” referring to Trump. As the audience realized the pattern of the statements, they joined in on those final few words, getting louder with each sentence.
“This is our moment to leave Donald Trump where he belongs: in America’s past,” Alsobrooks said. “We stand with Kamala Harris because we, as a country, are not going back.”
She continued:
“For the ancestors who sat at lunch counters and made sure that we all had the right to vote: We are not. Going. Back.”
“For the mamas and grandmamas who marched to make sure that women could control our own bodies: We are not. Going. Back.”
“For the parents who work from can’t-see in the morning until can’t-see at night, not so that they will have a better future, but so that their children will have a better life: We are not. Going. Back.”
While that section of the speech was crafted as an emotional dig against Trump, it also could apply to Alsobrooks’ own opponent in the U.S. Senate race, former Gov. Larry Hogan. Harris has made the phrase a rallying cry. Can Alsobrooks?
A family story
At campaign events and fundraisers in Maryland, Alsobrooks often tells the story of her grandmother Sarah, a housekeeper who longed to become a federal government employee.
The civil service test included a typing test, and Alsobrooks’ grandmother didn’t have a typewriter. So, as Alsobrooks tells it, her grandmother improvised and drew a typewriter keyboard on a piece of paper, put it up on the refrigerator and practiced her typing.
She passed the test and got the job, helping the family move up a run on the socioeconomic ladder.
“I am her legacy,” Alsobrooks declared to cheers. “And tonight: I am a candidate for United States Senate from the great state of Maryland!”
Alsobrooks said she’s inspired by women like her grandmother — and Harris — “who imagine a better future and then have the grit to make it a reality.”
Alsobrooks has told these stories many times on the trail, but seldom better than she did Tuesday.
What wasn’t said
Ahead of the speech, Hogan put out a five-point list of issues he wanted Alsobrooks to address in her speech. Not surprisingly, Alsobrooks kept to her own script.
On Hogan’s wish list was a discussion of crime statistics.
On the campaign trail, Alsobrooks often talks about how crime went down while she was state’s attorney in Prince George’s County. She does not mention that some areas of crime have increased since she moved over to become county executive.
Hogan, in a statement, claimed a 30% increase in violent crime in the county, including a 95% increase in homicides. But what Hogan doesn’t mention is that much of Alsobrooks’ time as county executive — from late 2018 to present — overlaps with Hogan’s time as governor — from January 2015 through January 2023, when he had influence and responsibility for state criminal justice policy.
