Kamala Harris steps for Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that more must be done on the federal level to stop gun violence during a campaign stop in Maryland to support Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat whose U.S. Senate race could determine control above the room.

Harris, speaking on the tenth annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day, marked the occasion by emphasizing the necessity to pass more laws to stop gun violence. The vice chairman also highlighted the experience of her longtime friend, who served as state’s attorney and chief executive in Prince George’s County, a suburb of the nation’s capital.

“Maryland, this November you have the power to elect leaders who will actually keep our communities safe,” Harris said.

Alsobrooks defeated U.S. Rep. David Trone last month after the congressman spent about $62 million of his personal fortune to self-finance his campaign. Now he’s competing against popular Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan for a Senate seat that can open with the retirement of Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat.

A Republican hasn’t won a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in greater than 40 years in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 statewide. However, Hogan is running probably the most competitive Senate race for the state GOP in many years.

Alsobrooks became the primary Black U.S. senator from Maryland and the third Black woman in the country elected to the Senate. Harris was the second Black woman elected to the chamber.

Alsobrooks said she would support laws on universal background checks, a ban on military assault weapons and combating the illegal firearms trade.

The county executive, who noted that gun violence is the leading reason for death amongst U.S. children, also said she wouldn’t draw back from holding gun manufacturers accountable “for the enormous harm they have caused to our state and our country.”

“And I want to be clear that without a majority in the Senate, we will not achieve these goals to keep Americans safe, and I want you to know that what has happened is that the path to a majority runs through Maryland,” Alsobrooks said.

Harris and Alsobrooks spoke at a rally attended by a few of Maryland’s top Democrats, including Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

Van Hollen pointed to Hogan’s previous endorsement by the National Rifle Association during his 2014 campaign for governor. The senator also noted that Hogan received an A-minus rating from the NRA.

Hogan, who won enough Democratic support to win two terms as governor in the blue state of Maryland, is one among former President Donald Trump’s harshest Republican critics. Van Hollen, nevertheless, said the NRA’s previous evaluation of Hogan suggests his policies are closer to Trump’s than he would really like to confess.

“So I know he goes around and says there are a lot of differences between him and Donald Trump, but when it comes down to it, the only difference is that Donald Trump got an A. “Larry Hogan got an F-minus from the NRA,” he added. Van Hollen said.

Hogan later distanced himself from the NRA during his second campaign for governor in 2018, and the organization didn’t endorse him that 12 months after he signed several gun control measures.

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In a mid-April interview with the AP, Hogan said he would support a national assault weapons ban after failing to oppose a state ban when he was Maryland’s governor.

“I support an assault weapons ban,” Hogan told The Associated Press. “I am a supporter of trying to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. And I am in favor of universal background checks. Maryland had an assault weapons ban and we kept it.”

In a press release Friday, Hogan campaign officials wrote: “While Angela Alsobrooks is campaigning today, rather than simply offering more platitudes, we urge her to tell voters how she will address the skyrocketing crime rate on her shift in Prince George’s County.”

Hogan’s campaign also noted its recently released anti-crime plan, which incorporates funding law enforcement, taking violent criminals off the streets and taking guns out of the hands of the mentally ailing and people convicted of violent crimes.

Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate. They are defending seats in other states that Trump won 4 years ago.