The 2024 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Maryland. Democratic Prince George's County executive Angela Alsobrooks won her first term in office, defeating Republican former governor Larry Hogan. She succeeded Democratic incumbent Ben Cardin, who did not seek a fourth term. Alsobrooks became the first African American and second woman to represent Maryland in the Senate.
After Cardin announced his retirement, Alsobrooks and Congressman David Trone emerged as the frontrunners in the Democratic primary. Although Trone heavily outspent Alsobrooks and led most public opinion polls, Alsobrooks won her party's nomination with 53% of the vote after taking a polling lead during the primary's final weeks. Hogan, who entered the race hours before the filing deadline, quickly emerged as the Republican frontrunner and won his party's nomination with 64% of the vote against former state delegate Robin Ficker.
Despite Maryland's status as a reliably Democratic state, the election was considered more competitive than usual due to Hogan's popularity, reputation as a moderate Republican, and opposition to Donald Trump. Alsobrooks was still considered the favorite to win, due to Maryland's heavy Democratic lean and the concurrent presidential election.
Hogan's margin was 17 points better than Trump's margin in Maryland, the largest gap between senatorial and presidential margins in the 2024 cycle, and this election was the closest Senate race in Maryland since 2006. Hogan carried Anne Arundel and Frederick counties—both won by Kamala Harris in the presidential race—and became the first Republican to exceed one million votes in a Maryland U.S. Senate election, the highest total for a Republican in the state's history. Despite this, Hogan could not overcome Alsobrooks's margins in the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area, and lost the election by nearly 12 points.
Alsobrooks's election, alongside Lisa Blunt Rochester's victory in neighboring Delaware, marks the first time that two African American women have served concurrently in the United States Senate.
Background
At the federal and state level, Maryland is a deeply blue state and one of the most reliably Democratic states in the nation, with Joe Biden carrying it by 33 points in the 2020 presidential election. Elections in Maryland are dominated by the Baltimore metropolitan area and the D.C. suburbs. At the time of this election, Democrats occupied both Senate seats, seven out of eight House seats, supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature, and all statewide offices.
Republicans had not won Maryland's Class 1 seat since 1970. Although the entry of former Maryland governor Larry Hogan was expected to make the race more competitive, the winner of the Democratic primary was favored to win in the general election, given that Republicans had not won a Senate seat in the state of Maryland since 1980. The decline of split-ticket voting in U.S. Senate races was expected to favor the Democrats for this race.
Hogan led in most polls through April 2024, but polls in May showed both Trone and Alsobrooks leading against Hogan, and a higher number of undecided voters.
Alsobrooks continued to lead Hogan in general election polling, but with a smaller lead than Democrats usually enjoy in Maryland.
Democratic primary Campaign
In the early months of 2023, Cardin's low fundraising and cash-on-hand numbers led to speculation that he would retire. Several potential candidates, including Angela Alsobrooks and David Trone, began hiring campaign advisers in anticipation of Cardin's possible retirement, which he announced on May 1, 2023, ending a political career that spanned over 50 years.
The following day, at-large Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando announced that he would run for Senate. He was joined by Trone and Alsobrooks later in the week. Upon Trone's entry into the race, the Democratic primary quickly developed into a contest between money and endorsements, with Alsobrooks receiving major endorsements from the Maryland Democratic establishment and Trone self-financing his campaign with $61 million in personal loans, which he said protects him from political influence and would allow the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to focus its resources on more competitive races. Trone suggested that he could spend as much as $50 million on the race. Despite Trone's ad blitz, independent polling portrayed him as only the slight favorite in the Democratic primary.
During the Democratic primary, Jawando and Trone sought to present themselves as progressives and political outsiders, pointing to their careers and political records, despite Trone's record in Congress being more aligned with its moderate members. Alsobrooks, meanwhile, emphasized "kitchen-table" issues such as community safety and health care in her campaign while also focusing on her political career. Candidates campaigned heavily in the Baltimore metropolitan area, which was seen as a key battleground in the Democratic primary as Trone and Alsobrooks were expected to dominate in their respective home counties of Montgomery and Prince George's County, which are of similar sizes and were considered likely to cancel each other out in the primary results. This was not the case, as Alsobrooks not only bested Trone in Montgomery County, but also in most of Maryland's other urban counties.
Alsobrooks and Trone, who were viewed by media outlets as the frontrunners, faced controversies that had the potential to damage their campaigns: Alsobrooks' record as a prosecutor was scrutinized by progressive-media outlet The Intercept, while Trone faced criticism for his campaign contributions toward Republican politicians through Total Wine & More and for political gaffes made during the campaign, including his accidental use of a racial slur during a congressional hearing. On the campaign trail, Alsobrooks criticized Trone for these contributions and for spending heavily in the race, while Trone characterized Alsobrooks as a "career politician" with an insufficient record on reproductive rights, criticized her for not including any Latinos in her cabinet, and suggested she would be influenced by the corporations that had donated to her campaign. Alsobrooks and some of her supporters, including Maryland treasurer Dereck E. Davis and Prince George's County councilmember Jolene Ivey, expressed concerns that Trone's comments toward Alsobrooks and her supporters could make coalescing around Trone difficult if he becomes the Democratic nominee; Trone supporters, including state delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk, dismissed these concerns. Peña-Melnyk said that Democrats should "focus on the issues" going into the election and not "make that mistake again" as happened with Larry Hogan's victory in 2014. In interviews with WTOP-FM before the primary election, both candidates said that they will support the Democratic nominee in the general election.
Jawando dropped out of the race on October 20, 2023, and later endorsed Alsobrooks, leaving a contest between Alsobrooks and Trone in the Democratic primary. Alsobrooks was seen as the early frontrunner of the Democratic primary, but momentum quickly built up behind Trone's campaign as he self-funded his campaign and its nonstop media blitz, which increased his name recognition and approval ratings in polling and overwhelmed the Alsobrooks campaign's resources. The Democratic primary has been compared to the primary in Maryland's 2016 U.S. Senate election, in which Chris Van Hollen defeated Donna Edwards. Upon former governor Larry Hogan's entry into the race, the Democratic primary largely transformed into a contest to determine which candidate had the best chance of defeating him, with candidates shifting from talking about their experience and leadership styles to talking about national issues—such as abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court, and Donald Trump—and criticizing Hogan's legislative record as governor.
Alsobrooks trailed Trone in public opinion polls for most of the Democratic primary, but enjoyed a surge of support in the final weeks of the election as voters tuned in, more senior Democratic figures voiced their support for her and while Trone's campaign suffered from various gaffes he had made on the campaign trail. She defeated Trone in the Democratic primary election on May 14, 2024, with her support largely coming from the state's highly-populated and urban counties, especially in her home base of Prince George's County, while majority votes for Trone came from Maryland's rural areas and Frederick County.
Candidates Nominee Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George's County Executive (2018–2024)
Eliminated in primary Michael Cobb, congressional aide Marcellus Crews, tech executive Brian Frydenborg, freelance journalist and research consultant Scottie Griffin, former Charlottesville City Public Schools Superintendent and write-in candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022 Robert K. Houton, nonprofit executive Joseph Perez, IT project manager and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022 Steve Seuferer, IT professional David Trone, U.S. representative for (2019–2025) Andrew Jaye Wildman, writer and perennial candidate
Withdrawn Juan Dominguez, former vice president of Breezeline and former Republican Bogota, New Jersey borough councilor (1995–1998) (ran for U.S. House) Will Jawando, at-large Montgomery County councilor (2018–present) and candidate for in 2016 (endorsed Alsobrooks)
Declined Ben Cardin, incumbent U.S. senator (2007–2025) Kweisi Mfume, U.S. representative for (1987–1996; 2020–present), candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006, and former president of the NAACP (1996–2004) (endorsed Alsobrooks, ran for re-election) Wes Moore, governor of Maryland (2023–present) (endorsed Alsobrooks) Johnny Olszewski, Baltimore County Executive (2018–2025) and former state delegate from the 6th district (2006–2015) (endorsed Alsobrooks, ran for U.S. House) Tom Perez, former chair of the Democratic National Committee (2017–2021), former U.S. Secretary of Labor (2013–2017), former Maryland Secretary of Labor (2007–2009), and candidate for governor of Maryland in 2022 Jamie Raskin, U.S. representative for (2017–present) (ran for re-election, endorsed Alsobrooks) John Sarbanes, U.S. representative for (2007–2025) and son of former U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (endorsed Alsobrooks)
Endorsements
Debates and forums
A straw poll was held during the Maryland Democratic Party's forum on the Eastern Shore, which was won by Alsobrooks, who received 125 votes to Trone's 98 votes and Dominguez's 15 votes.
A televised debate between Alsobrooks and Trone hosted by WBAL-TV and WRC-TV was set to be held on April 23, 2024, but was cancelled after Trone refused to commit to the debate. Both campaigns agreed to attend a different televised debate hosted by WBFF and WJLA-TV a few days later, which was held on April 19. A second televised debate was held by WDCW on April 29, 2024, which was attended by Alsobrooks while Trone declined to attend.