Angela Alsobrooks is running a breakthrough campaign in Maryland’s U.S. Senate race and is poised to make history because the state’s first Black senator if elected. With a distinguished background in public service – she served as Prince George’s County State’s Attorney for eight years before being elected twice as county executive – Alsobrooks now intends to bring her experience to Congress, where she could be one among the few Black women to ever serve in that role.

The latest poll from the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE) shows her a robust double-digit lead over her Republican opponent, former Gov. Larry Hogan. In October, Alsobrooks polled with 52% of likely voters, compared to Hogan’s 40%, and Libertarian candidate Mike Scott was polling at lower than 4%. Despite Hogan’s intense promoting campaigns, Alsobrooks’ advantage has continued since September. “The overall margin is about the same,” CDCE Director Michael Hanmer said, as each side give attention to influencing undecided voters in this high-stakes race.

This race could determine party control of the U.S. Senate, making issues like abortion and economic policy more essential than ever. While more Maryland voters now view Hogan because the stronger candidate on economic issues, Alsobrooks has significant benefits on health care and reproductive rights, topics that widely share her views. CDCE data suggests her comments in regards to the Senate’s role in protecting reproductive rights resonated with many citizens in Maryland, something analysts say Hogan struggled to rise up to.

Alsobrooks’ campaign is historically significant: If elected, she would turn out to be Maryland’s first Black female senator and one among the few Black women to serve in the Senate in its 235-yr history. “People like me don’t get to the Senate, and we should,” Alsobrooks emphasized in her speech on the Democratic National Convention in August, calling attention to the systemic barriers Black women face in reaching high political office. “We only chose two [Black women] for the Senate and has only won three seats so far, so it was a joy to get on that stage and represent so many people whose voices I felt were underrepresented in the Senate. And it was a great moment,” she told ESSENCE about her speech.

The historical context is important: Carol Moseley Braun was the primary Black woman elected to the Senate in 1992, followed by Kamala Harris in 2016. In 2023, California’s Laphonza Butler became the third Black woman in the Senate, appointed to finish Dianne Feinstein’s term. he doesn’t intend to run for the complete term. If Alsobrooks is successful, she could join Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, who can also be running for Senate, and together they might potentially transform the Senate with historic levels of black women’s representation.

Alsobooks told ESSENCE that her journey into public service was inspired in part by Kamala Harris, then the district attorney of San Francisco, whom she first examine in a 2009 article. “I read a magazine article about a district attorney using new ideas to keep his community safe,” Alsobrooks recalled. Inspired, she began to incorporate restorative justice principles into her own work, in search of ways to rethink the criminal justice system and expand access to opportunity.

Alsobrooks says he sees his candidacy as a way to effect meaningful change, from economic opportunity to access to health care. Her platform focuses on expanding reproductive rights, access to health care and educational resources for Marylanders. Alsobrooks also supports comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship, and has been openly critical of the Trump-era tax cuts, calling for higher corporate tax rates to fund programs for working families fairly than corporate interests.

The stakes remain high for Alsobrooks as she campaigns to represent Maryland and amplify the voices of diverse communities in the Senate. Marylanders will soon make a choice on November 5, setting the course for the state’s future in Washington.

A Washington state woman has been charged with a hate crime after she allegedly tried to pin the attack on a Black Latino teenager at whom she allegedly shouted racial slurs and slurs.

Jennifer Vincent faces charges of malicious harassment, hate crime, fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest in reference to the Oct. 25 incident.

According to court documents obtained by her, Vincent, who’s white, called police at Pioneer Park in Puyallup, Washington, that day to report that she had been attacked by a 14-year-old boy. KING5News.

When officers arrived at the park, multiple witnesses told them Vincent was the aggressor.

Several people told police that Vincent “screamed racist and derogatory statements” at the teenager and “other Latinos.”

Court documents say the teenager Vincent called 911 told officers that Vincent approached a family celebrating their daughter’s quinceañera at the park and “told them to go back to their country.”

Vincent then allegedly approached the teen and the group he was with and repeated the same statements. According to reports, she “told him to go back to where he came from and he’s not allowed in this country” after which pushed him. Court documents say the teen responded by pushing her away.

Witness statements were consistent with the teen’s version of events, and other people also told officers that Vincent called the teen a “bean” and used the N-word. Fox13 Seattle.

Court records show Vincent was uncooperative with responding officers. Upon arrival, she screamed, refused to reply questions and repeatedly asked for medical attention, though she was walking normally and gave the impression to be unhurt, in accordance with court records.

One of the officers suspected that he was affected by a mental crisis and called a paramedic to the scene, who noticed that Vincent had a history of affected by post-traumatic stress disorder.

When police decided that they had grounds to arrest Vincent, court documents show she resisted multiple officers and accused one of them of attempting to harm her. She can be accused of attempting to pinch one of the officers on the leg.

Vincent was taken to the hospital after which booked into the county jail. During a visit to hospital, doctors found that she had “internal bruising to her back – this was partly due to what she had complained about earlier when she said she had pre-existing injuries, and partly because she had to be checked by officers during her nearly one minute of resisting and fighting with police,” according to the charges documents.

She made her first court appearance on Monday, where a judge set her bail at $10,000 and ordered her to not contact any witnesses or the alleged victim.

He is scheduled to return to court on November 25.

Lisa Blunt Rochester is not any stranger to making history. Her, eight years ago became the primary As reported by December 19, a black person and the primary woman elected to Congress from Delaware. Now she’s ready to do it again in her campaign to develop into the primary Black woman to represent Delaware in the Senate.

The wind is blowing at Blunt Rochester’s back, z current polls showing he leads his Republican opponent by 20 points in a state he consistently picks Democrats in the Senate since 2000. Blunt Rochester also gained key endorsements from President Joe Biden and current incumbent Sen. Tom Carper, for whom she worked as an electoral relations specialist and is retiring.

But as a black woman carrying the load of history on her shoulders, she doesn’t take anything as a right. In an interview on the nineteenth she said, “I can still as a black woman see how much donors give to me and how much they give to my white counterpart and I can see the difference. “I’m still dealing with people’s expectations, and those are good expectations and bad expectations,” she continued. “I also think there is a certain level of responsibility for me. I care about this pipeline. Maybe others don’t have to think that way, but I do.”

Only three black women have served in the U.S. Senate in its 235-yr history. The first was Carol Moseley Braun, elected in 1992 to represent Illinois. The second person was Vice President Kamala Harris, elected to represent California in 2016. The third was Laphonza Butler, who currently represents California and was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to finish the term of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. Butler is not trying to keep his spot.

If elected, Blunt Rochester and fellow Senate candidate, Prince George’s County, Maryland, Executive Angela Alsobrooks, will develop into the primary black female senators to serve together. While Blunt Rochester is aware of the historical significance of her campaign, that will not be her focus. In an interview with ABC” she said, “I don’t really think about history that much because, you know, my intention is to make a difference and impact people’s lives,” she added, “and if the moment comes to make history, that’s great.”

Before deciding to run for Congress in 2016, Blunt Rochester was a recently widowed 54-yr-old who had no experience running for office. She claims that she will be able to only afford to run thanks to the cash she received for her late husband’s life insurance policybut she beat the chances and won a seat in the House of Representatives. In an interview with ABC, she explained how her unique biography can serve each as an inspiration to others and as an motion plan for the problems she wants to address:

“I think about little girls, I think about women who are widowed or who are over 50,” she said. “For me to give you the option to represent and produce these lived experiences, skilled experiences and political issues. I mean, we all know that black women die from childbirth at higher rates than their white counterparts [and] have 43% more student loan debt than our white counterparts.

Blunt Rochester also wants to address the concerns of all Delawareans, including protecting access to health care and the economy. Actually, she quotes each as motivation to run for Congress. Despite the deep political polarization in the country, Blunt Rochester believes that to achieve success, you need to work across the aisle.

On November 5, she could develop into the primary black female senator in the state of Delaware, but she doesn’t want to be the last. “I feel a deep responsibility to bridge the gap and build a pipeline to other women and underrepresented groups of people,” Blunt Rochester said on 19. “For me, it’s about providing tangible, meaningful support to the next generation of leaders because it’s not enough to be ‘first’, it’s about to return the favor.”