With less than one week to go before Election Day, Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Larry Hogan are criss-crossing the state looking for voters in the race for the United States Senate.
Both campaigns see voter-rich Baltimore County as key to winning the election in November.
Former Gov. Hogan greeted supporters last week at the early voting center in Perry Hall. It was his first stop on the first day of early voting.
“Have you guys all voted yet?” he asked.
Hogan said in his two races for governor he kicked off early voting in Perry Hall as well.
“Baltimore County is critically important and this is a really important precinct,” Hogan said. “And it’s the same thing I did in ‘14 and ‘18 when we won the election. I like to come back. I’m a creature of habit.”
John Willis, a former Maryland secretary of state and an executive in residence at the University of Baltimore’s School of Public and International Affairs said Hogan is going where he’s likely to find votes.
“Baltimore County produces more Republican votes than any other county in the state,” Willis said.
According to the Maryland State Board of Elections, in November 2022 there were more than 137,000 registered Republicans in Baltimore County. There were about 309,000 registered Democrats.
Willis said Hogan zeroing in on Perry Hall tracks too. It’s diverse, wedged between the more conservative eastern Baltimore County and the more liberal west side.
“You’re going to get the mixture,” Willis said. “You’re going to see what’s playing out in the suburbs of Philadelphia.”
Those suburbs are battlegrounds in the Presidential race.
Meantime, a couple of weeks ago in Pikesville, political star power was deployed for the Democratic nominee, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
“I’d like to bring up to the stage someone I really so admire, Angela Alsobrooks,” said retired U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski at a campaign stop at a Pikesville senior center.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in Baltimore County,” Alsobrooks said. “And you know what, we’ve spent time all across the state. In my opinion you have to represent every part of the state.”
Pikesville is in Democratic State Sen. Shelly Hettleman’s district. While she is focusing on helping Alsobrooks in her blue district, Hettleman said she was recently knocking on doors for the candidate in purple White Marsh.
“There are Republicans and Independents, and I had good conversations with some of the people who were home about why this election is so important and why it’s so important for Democrats to maintain control of the United States Senate,” Hettleman said.
That argument has been at the center of the Alsobrooks campaign. On the other hand, Hogan says he would be a politically independent U.S. Senator.
Republican County Councilman David Marks, a Hogan supporter, said that he believes the former governor can carry Baltimore County. Marks said it’s essential that he do so.
“If a Republican is losing Baltimore County, they’re likely losing Frederick and they’ve already lost Howard,” Marks said.
Those three counties, like the state, are majority Democratic but with a fair number of Republican voters. So to win in a Democratic state, Hogan has to get independents and pick off some Democrats. Hogan was able to do that in his two races for governor when he carried Baltimore County comfortably.
However, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski believes a strong showing in the county by fellow Democrat Alsobrooks probably means game over for Hogan.
“If you are tied or you are winning Baltimore County, you’re poised to win statewide,” Olszewski said. “We really have the numbers that I think can shift the result of an election.”
Some of those numbers: Baltimore County is the state’s third most populous locality and in November of 2022 it had the second most unaffiliated voters in Maryland, nearly 107,000.
County voters also have shown they are willing to split tickets. In 2018, when both the Democrat Olszewski and the Republican Hogan were on the ballot, they got roughly the same number of votes in their races for county executive and governor.
Republican State Sen. Chris West said it will be critical for voters to split their votes between parties for Hogan to carry the county a third time.
“If he does (win the county) as when he ran for governor twice he’ll win,” West said. “His problem of course is the fellow at the top of the ticket.”
Former President Donald Trump is expected to lose Maryland to Vice-President Kamala Harris by a wide margin.
According to the Hogan campaign, he has been in Baltimore County nearly a dozen times since Labor Day and plans to have his final get out the vote rally there on the eve of next Tuesday’s election.
The Alsobrooks campaign said in a statement, "In the last week, she'll be making her case to voters all over the state and will be in Baltimore County a number of times as well."
