Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is leaning on the Big Schlims of the world to help offset Rep. David Trone’s cavernous pockets in Maryland’s hard-fought Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
Big Schlim’s real name is Jay McLeod. He is a popular Black food reviewer in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area who has gained tens of thousands of online followers, and, he’s provided Ms. Alsobrooks with a unique platform to connect with voters.
“This is one of the most important elections of our lifetime. I have delivered for our community,” Ms. Alsobrooks says in a recent video where she gives her seafood medley with chickpeas and collard greens a Big Schlim-inspired “STAMP!” of approval, his signature top rating for a dish.
Flashing a smile, Ms. Alsobrooks says, “So, vote for your girl.”
The winner of the May 14th primary between Ms. Alsobrooks and Mr. Trone will advance to the general election to face former Gov. Larry Hogan, the popular Republican who enjoys a double-digit lead over both Democrats in polls.
The seat is being vacated by retiring three-term Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat.
If Democrats lose the contest in the deep-blue states, their defense of their slim Senate majority will likely be dashed.
The Democratic faceoff has revived the racial and gender overtones from the 2016 nomination race when then-Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a White man with $3.6 million more in his war chest, defeated fellow Rep. Donna Edwards, a single mother who was seeking to make history as the state’s first Black female Senator.
In her concession speech, Ms. Edwards chided the party for failing on the diversity front, saying Democrats were poised to elect “an all-male delegation in a so-called progressive state.”
Eight years later, the issues of race and gender remain, and the financial gap between the candidates is far more jarring.
Democrats now face a stark choice between nominating Mr. Trone, who has demonstrated a willingness to tap into seemingly unlimited resources that could prove essential against Mr. Hogan, or Ms. Alsobrooks, who is more representative of the party’s diversity and could have an easier time energizing the party’s base.
“This is what Trone has going for him: he has a bottomless pit of money and nothing says love like cold hard cash,” said John Dedie, a professor in the political science department at Community College of Baltimore County.
Among the richest members of Congress, Mr. Trone, owner of Total Wine & More, has loaned his campaign a whopping $54 million and raised a rather pedestrian $791,00 through individual donors.
Ms. Alsobrooks pulled in nearly $7.8 million, including $6.6 million from individual donations.
She has tried to bridge the divide with the free media coverage that comes from touting big-name endorsements she received from top Maryland Democrats, including Gov. Wes Moore, Mr. Van Hollen, and Rep. Jaime Raskin.
But it has been hard for her to break through in a race in which there is not a lot of daylight between the candidates on the issues.
Pressing his cash advantage, Mr. Trone has dominated the airwaves, blanketing the state with television ads.
“Trone has been able to be on the air with TV commercials at least since the fall of last year,” said Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “So while she might get a quick mention on the evening news because this person or that person endorsed her, the minute you went to commercial break it was all David Trone.”
Mr. Trone’s barrage of spending helped change the narrative of the race, shifting the focus away from Ms. Alsobrooks and the initial sense of inevitability that surrounded her campaign.
In response, Ms. Alsobrooks and her allies have accused Mr. Trone of trying to “buy” the seat and highlighted past contributions he gave to Republicans who supported stricter abortion limits.
While polls show Mr. Trone is ahead, Mr Dedie said there is a sense that Ms. Alsobrooks has been gaining momentum.
“I have noticed on asocial media and other places that there is not a Trone bandwagon,” he said. “There are not Trone keyboard warriors. There are Alsobrooks keyboard warriors.”
Mr. Dedie said that could help explain why Ms. Alsobrooks is relying on the sort of outside-the-box thinking that landed her on a Big Schlim food review.
“Social media influences are the way of the future,” he said, likening it to how it was considered cutting edge when politicians started appearing decades ago on David Letterman’s late-night show. “It is a way to reach voters who might say, ‘That person seems cool.’”