GOP hopes to pick up Senate seat in Maryland

With Larry Hogan running, they very well might

Former Maryland governor Larry Hogan wisely resisted calls to run for the Republican presidential nomination and to run for president on a “No Labels” ticket. He decided, instead, to run for the U.S. Senate.

Early polling suggests that he has an excellent chance to win. He leads both of the leading Democratic contenders by double digits.

It’s possible that Hogan’s lead will evaporate. He’ll be running on the same ticket as Donald Trump, who is massively unpopular in Maryland. And Democrats will push hard the theme that a vote for Hogan is a vote for GOP control of the Senate. For once, Democrats might even be telling the truth.

Who are the two leading Dem contenders? One is Rep. David Trone, a wealthy businessman. The other is Angela Alsobrooks, the Executive of Prince George’s County, that haven of domestic tranquility. (More on this later.)

Trone is white. (More on this later.) Alsobrooks is black.

Trone has been leading Alsobrooks in the polls, but only by about 7 points. Alsobrooks’ campaign received a boost today when Rep. Jamie Raskin, the obnoxious hard leftist who represents my district, endorsed Alsobrooks.

Trone’s campaign probably suffered a self-inflicted blow recently when he used a racist slur — a real one, not an innocuous word or phrase construed to be a slur by race hustlers and the easily offended.

During a congressional budget hearing, Trone said: “This Republican jigaboo that it’s the tax rate that’s stopping business investment, it’s just completely faulty by people who have never run a business.” When contacted by the Washington Post about this statement, Trone explained:

Today while attempting to use the word ‘bugaboo’ in a hearing, I misspoke and mistakenly used a phrase that is offensive. Upon learning the meaning of the word I was deeply disappointed to have accidentally used it, and I apologize,

It’s undoubtedly true that Trone meant to say “bugaboo.” However, it’s very unlikely that he didn’t know the meaning of “jigaboo.”

Although I haven’t heard that word used since I was in high school, it was a common racial slur when I was growing up, and we all knew what it meant. It’s hard to credit the claim that Trone, who is 68, didn’t know.

Clearly, the word is part of Trone’s vocabulary, though presumably not a word he intentionally uses these days.

Objectively, Trone’s accidental use of it at the hearing should is not a big deal. A simple apology should have been enough.

But under the circumstances of today, Trone understood that more was required. The “more” was a confession of “white privilege.” Accordingly, he said:

[The word jigaboo] has a long, dark, terrible history. It should never be used any time, anywhere, in any conversation. I recognize that as a white man, I have privilege. And as an elected official, I have a responsibility for the words I use — especially in the heat of the moment. Regardless of what I meant to say, I shouldn’t have used that language.

I was amused to see Trone fess up to having “white privilege.” In the past, he has presented himself as anything but privileged. In his telling, Trone’s life is a rags-to-riches story of growing up on a chicken farm that his father lost due to bankruptcy and overcoming obstacles through hard work, not “privilege.”

There should be a board game (do they still exist?) like “Careers,” which I played as a kid. One of the places on the board where you can land should be called “Use Racial Slur.”

If you’re playing as a Democrat, the penalty would be “confess your white privilege; lose one turn.” If you’re playing as a Republican, the penalty would be “lose the game.”

I’ll be interested to see the next poll of the Trone-Alsobrooks race.

I’ll also be interested to see if the issue of crime plays a role in the general election. It should, especially if the Democrats nominate Alsobrooks.

A new poll of residents of Montgomery and Prince Georges County finds that crime is the most important issue for residents of these two jurisdictions:

The percentage of voters in D.C.'s closest Maryland suburbs who say crime is the state’s biggest problem has risen sharply, from 7 percent in 2019 to 30 percent today, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

The poll finds a dramatic shift in how voters rank their concerns. Five years ago, in listing Maryland’s most pressing problems, voters in Prince George’s County cited public schools far ahead of crime, which was matched or exceeded by public taxes, affordable housing, and roads and transit.

Crime is now first in Prince George’s, as it is in neighboring Montgomery County, where in 2019 climate change topped the list and crime was seventh at 3 percent. The issues have essentially swapped places for Montgomery voters.

These results are, of course, a response to significant increases in crime in the two counties. In Prince George’s County, violent crime is up 12 percent in the past four years and property crime is up by even more.

Alsobrooks, a former prosecutor, has been PG County Executive during this entire period.

Trone, too, should be vulnerable on crimes. He has made criminal justice reform a signature campaign issue. In casting himself as a victim of government overzealousness — his business has come under federal scrutiny — he been ridiculed by the left.

It’s possible, though, that voters who say crime is a major issue nonetheless favor soft-on-crime policies packaged as “reform.” My Montgomery County neighbors aren’t adept at putting two and two together.

As Maryland’s governor for two terms, Hogan stood firmly for law and order. He was a harsh critic of soft-on-crime officials in Baltimore, where violent crime spiked. And a day after a 69-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in a Baltimore City church, Hogan offered a $100,000 reward from the state and called on the mayor to match it.

Let’s hope that fear of crime and respect for Hogan’s eight years of solid administration overcome fear of a GOP Senate majority in the minds of Maryland voters this November.