Election night 2024 marked a personal triumph for Angela Alsobrooks, even as it unfolded against a sobering backdrop for Democrats nationwide. After a bruising Democratic primary and quiet doubts within her own party about her cautious campaign style, the then–Prince George’s County executive made history, winning election as Maryland’s first Black U.S. senator. She defeated a former Republican governor who once boasted approval ratings near 80 percent.
Yet the celebration was tempered. Across the country, Democrats watched the political map shift rightward. The party lost its narrow Senate majority, and Donald Trump won back the White House. “I’ll never forget how special it felt to me and to my daughter and family,” Alsobrooks recalled in an interview from her Senate office. “And at the same time, there’s the reelection of Donald Trump, which I literally never thought was possible. So the mission for me was really crystal clear on that night.”
Now 54, Alsobrooks says her first year in the Senate has been an adjustment and a lesson in patience. A former prosecutor and county executive, she arrived with an executive’s instincts in a chamber built for deliberation and delay. Still, she insists she has embraced the shift. “This is a long game,” she said. “They have four years in the White House. I have six.”
Her profile rose early when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then nominated to serve as Trump’s health secretary, visited her temporary office to lobby for confirmation. Alsobrooks, skeptical of his qualifications and alarmed by his views on vaccines, pressed him sharply. The exchange went viral, and she later became the first senator to call for his resignation, co-authoring a detailed report documenting his tenure.
Despite that high-profile clash, Alsobrooks has largely avoided the cable news circuit. Instead, she has focused on building relationships inside the Senate, joining bipartisan Bible study groups and seeking Republican co-sponsors for her bills. Those efforts have yielded partnerships on legislation ranging from health care research to tax relief for beauty industry workers.
Grounded in her working-class roots and still living among her constituents, Alsobrooks says affordability is personal, not abstract. From soaring grocery prices to an $800-a-month prescription her father needs, she carries those realities with her into policy debates.
Her presence also carries symbolic weight. Last summer, when she wore her hair in braids onto the Senate floor, a Capitol Police officer stopped to take a photo. “My mother is going to be so thrilled,” he told her. “You’re the first.”
