With three months until the May 14 primary, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Takoma Park has been alone among the seven Democrats in the Maryland House delegation in not offering an endorsement in the race for the party’s nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Baltimore).
And, according to Raskin, that remains his stance — notwithstanding a surprise appearance Sunday at the Montgomery County field office of Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, at which Raskin addressed volunteers at a pep rally as they prepared to go out campaigning on Alsobrooks’ behalf.
Alsobrooks – who faces U.S. Rep. David Trone of Potomac for the Democratic Senate nod – did not mention Raskin in a press advisory prior to the event in Silver Spring, which indicated she would be joined District 20 Sen. Will Smith and Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, both of Silver Spring.
“I’ve not made endorsements in any of the Maryland federal races, where we have lots of great candidates,” Raskin said this week, alluding not only to the Senate contest, but to open House slots in the Baltimore region, where veteran Democratic Reps. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes are retiring, and the District 6 seat in western Maryland being given up by Trone to pursue a Senate run.
“…But I was excited to see Angela Alsobrooks in action in Montgomery County,” Raskin added. “She has a strong positive message for the state that is pro-choice, pro-democracy and pro-freedom.”
Raskin’s appearance was widely captured on social media, prompting questions as to whether he had delivered at least an informal endorsement of Alsobrooks.
For her part, Alsobrooks thanked Raskin via a post on X (formerly Twitter). “It was fantastic to see so many people show up to knock on doors and get involved with our campaign today,” Alsobrooks wrote in an X post viewed by more than 95,000 followers. “Thanks to @jamie_raskin and @Jheanelle W for getting folks fired up and hitting the pavement with me. The power of the many will win this election.”
It’s not entirely clear why Raskin—who last year spent more than two months publicly grappling with whether to run for the Senate himself—opted to attend an event billed by the Alsobrooks campaign as a “Senate Weekend of Action Kickoff.”
It does appear consistent with Raskin’s past practice of endorsing in some races and providing laudatory quotes in others without endorsing one candidate over another – a strategy that at times has led to voter confusion.
There also may have been an element of “getting to know you” in Raskin’s presence at the Alsobrooks event, which provided an opportunity for him to observe a fellow Maryland officeholder with whom he has had limited interaction in the past.
On the other hand, Raskin and Trone have been familiar with each other going back nearly a decade—to 2016, when Raskin first won the Democratic nomination to represent District 8, which includes the large majority of Montgomery County.
Trone finished second in a nine-way primary contest in which the two men regularly lobbed pointed rhetoric at each other. By the end of the campaign, Trone had reached into his personal fortune to outspend Raskin by a margin approaching 8-1, mirroring the manner in which Trone has overwhelmed Alsobrooks in spending on this year’s race.
But the contentious Raskin-Trone relationship of 2016 has shown evidence of a thaw since Trone was elected two years later to represent District 6, which includes the northwestern part of Montgomery County. The two legislators have worked together on legislation, particularly related to mental health and alcohol and drug abuse—issues that Trone has emphasized in his Senate bid.
As the lead manager for the Senate impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump in 2021, and later a member of the special committee created to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters, Raskin has achieved both visibility and a following across the country, supplementing his base of support among Democratic progressives back home in Maryland.
Following Cardin’s retirement, Raskin announced last summer that, rather than seek the open Senate seat, he would run for re-election to the House—where Democrats hope to recapture a majority this November of a 435-member chamber where Republicans currently hold only a four-seat advantage. If the Democrats do regain control, Raskin is in line to assume a high-profile position as chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
His decision to forgo a Senate run has both Alsobrooks and Trone tacking left in an effort to capture voters who are part of Raskin’s progressive base. His endorsement would be a coveted one in a Senate primary in which an independent poll last week indicated that nearly 40% of Democratic voters remain undecided.
Despite Trone’s status as a member of the Maryland congressional delegation, the bulk of the state’s Democrats on Capitol Hill have lined up behind Alsobrooks, as she vies to become Maryland’s first Black senator. It mirrors her overwhelming advantage over Trone in support from elected officials across the state, including Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Kensington. (Cardin has opted to remain neutral in the contest to succeed him.)
Reps. Steny Hoyer of St. Mary’s County, Glenn Ivey of Prince George’s County, Kweisi Mfume of Baltimore city, and Sarbanes, of Baltimore County, have lined up behind Alsobrooks, while Ruppersberger, also of Baltimore County, has endorsed Trone, a fellow member of the House Appropriations Committee.
It leaves Raskin alone among his Maryland House colleagues in refraining so far from offering a Senate race endorsement —and it remains unclear if he will opt to climb off the fence before primary voters go to the polls in May.
