“I’m running for Senate to be a voice for families like the ones I grew up with here, and who I’ve worked for throughout my life,” Angela Alsobrooks said in her campaign video. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Maryland Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks officially launched her bid to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin on Tuesday.
Alsobrooks is the third candidate to throw their hat in the ring for the seat, a week after Cardin announced he would not run for reelection and created a wide-open race to succeed him. Montgomery County Council Member Will Jawando and Rep. David Trone have also announced their campaigns.
“There aren’t enough people in the US Senate who live like, think like and look like the people they’re supposed to represent. My Great-Grandma told me, ‘if you don’t like something, go farther and do better.’ I’m proud to say I’m running for the Senate. Let’s go farther together,” Alsobrooks said on Twitter.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
His primary competition is likely to include Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who hired a campaign manager earlier this year and is expected to jump into the race soon. Alsobrooks, an ally of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, will probably have the support of EMILY’s List. Another possible competitor: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who could easily run in the progressive lane. While in office, Trone has cast a more centrist profile. He is a member of the New Democrat Coalition and often touts his bipartisan credentials.
His district, which spans from the outskirts of Montgomery County to the state’s border with West Virginia, is the most competitive in the state. President Joe Biden won it by 10 points in 2020. Trone won reelection in 2022 against Republican Neil Parrott by 10 points.
Yet in an interview ahead of his launch, Trone repeatedly described himself as a progressive, just one with a pragmatic streak.
“I’m a progressive through and through,” he said, “but at the same time, you can be a progressive, and you can work with folks that are on the other side of the aisle to accomplish things.”
But his biggest asset is perhaps his bank account. Trone spent more than $13 million in 2016 in an unsuccessful attempt to win a House seat in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, losing in the primary to Raskin. Two years later he spent some $17 million in a neighboring seat and won.
Trone is willing to invest tens of millions of dollars into his statewide run, according to a person familiar with his plans who was granted anonymity because they were not at liberty to discuss them.
The congressman declined to detail how much he would be willing to invest but said that he thought voters would approve of his ability to eschew corporate PAC or lobbyist donations.
“It’ll take significant resources,” he said.
Trone’s campaign manager will be Dan Morrocco, who led Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s successful reelection bid in Connecticut in 2022.
The biggest remaining question mark is whether Raskin will enter the race. A progressive star who developed a national profile from his role investigating the Jan. 6 attacks, Raskin previously said he had been receiving encouragement to run. He just finished chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma and said the cancer was now in remission.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“The staggering pervasiveness of the abuse itself underscores the culpability of the Church hierarchy,” the report said. “The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of the abusers’ conduct, and the frequency with which known abusers were given the opportunity to continue preying upon children are astonishing.”
Disclosure of the redacted findings marks a significant development in an ongoing legal battle over their release and adds to growing evidence from parishes across the country as numerous similar revelations have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, in a statement posted online, apologized to the victims and said the report “details a reprehensible time in the history of this Archdiocese, a time that will not be covered up, ignored or forgotten.”
“It is difficult for most to imagine that such evil acts could have actually occurred,” Lori said. “For victim-survivors everywhere, they know the hard truth: These evil acts did occur.”
Also on Wednesday, the state legislature passed a bill to end a statute of limitations on abuse-related civil lawsuits, sending it to Gov. Wes Moore, who has said he supports it. The Baltimore archdiocese says it has paid more than $13.2 million for care and compensation for 301 abuse victims since the 1980s, including $6.8 million toward 105 voluntary settlements.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, who took office in January, said the investigation shows “pervasive, pernicious and persistent abuse.” State investigators began their work in 2019; they reviewed over 100,000 pages of documents dating back to the 1940s and interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses.
Abuse recalled as a “life sentence”
Victims said the report was a long-overdue public reckoning with shameful accusations the church has been facing for decades.
Jean Hargadon Wehner said she was abused in Baltimore as a teen by A. Joseph Maskell, a priest who served as her Catholic high school’s counselor and chaplain. She said she reported her abuse to church officials in the early ’90s, when her memories of the trauma finally surfaced about two decades after she was repeatedly raped.
“I expected them to do the right thing in 1992,” she told reporters Wednesday. “I’m still angry.”
Maskell abused at least 39 victims, according to the report. He denied the allegations before his death in 2001 and was never criminally charged. The Associated Press typically doesn’t name victims of abuse, but Wehner has spoken publicly to draw attention to the issue.
Kurt Rupprecht, who also experienced abuse as a child, said he was in his late 40s when he pieced together his traumatic memories. He said the realization brought him some relief because it explained decades of self-destructive behavior and mental health challenges, but also left him overwhelmed with anger and disbelief.
Rupprecht said his abuser was assigned to the Diocese of Wilmington, which covers some counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
“We’re here to speak the truth and never stop,” he said after the news conference. “We deal with this every day. It is our life sentence.”
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, noted the report lists more names of abusers than have been released publicly by archdiocese officials. The organization called on the archbishop to explain the discrepancies.
Other investigations involving the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, which both include parts of Maryland, are ongoing.
Archdiocese took steps to protect the accused
The Baltimore report says church leaders were focused on keeping abuse hidden, not on protecting victims or stopping abuse. In some situations, victims ended up reporting abuse to priests who were abusive themselves. And when law enforcement did become aware of abuse allegations, police and prosecutors were often deferential and “uninterested in probing what church leaders knew and when,” according to the report.
The nearly 500-page document includes numerous instances of leaders taking steps to protect accused clergy, including allowing them to retire with financial support rather than be ousted, letting them remain in the ministry and failing to report alleged abuse to law enforcement.
In 1964, for instance, Father Laurence Brett admitted to sexually abusing a teenager at a Catholic university in Connecticut.
He was sent to New Mexico under the guise of hepatitis treatment and then to Sacramento, where another teenage boy reported being abused by Brett, the report said. He was later assigned to Baltimore, where he served as chaplain at a Catholic high school for boys and abused over 20 victims.
After several students accused him of abuse in 1973, Brett was allowed to resign, saying he had to care for a sick aunt. School officials didn’t report the abuse to authorities and dozens more victims later came forward. He never faced criminal charges and died in 2010.
The report largely focuses on the years before 2002, when an investigation by the Boston Globe into abuse and coverup in the Archdiocese of Boston led to an explosion of revelations nationwide. The nation’s Catholic bishops, for the first time, then agreed on reforms including a lifetime ban from ministry for any priest who commits even a single incident of abuse. While new national policies significantly improved the internal handling of reported abuse in the Baltimore archdiocese after 2002, significant flaws remained, according to the report.
Only one person has been indicted through the investigation: Neil Adleberg, 74, who was arrested last year and charged with rape and other counts. The case remains ongoing. Officials said he coached wrestling at a Catholic high school in the ’70s, then returned to the role for the 2014-2015 school year. The alleged abuse occurred in 2013 and 2014 but the victim was not a student of the school, officials said.
Court to consider releasing more names in the future
Lawyers for the state asked a court for permission to release the report and a Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled last month that a redacted version should be made public. The court ordered the removal the names and titles of 37 people accused of wrongdoing — whose names came out during confidential grand jury proceedings — but will consider releasing a more complete version in the future.
Lawmakers’ passage of a bill to end the state’s statute of limitations Wednesday came after similar proposals failed in recent years. Currently, victims of child sex abuse in Maryland can’t sue after they turn 38. The bill would eliminate the age limit and allow for retroactive lawsuits.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore has long faced scrutiny over its handling of abuse allegations.
In 2002, Cardinal William Keeler, who served as Baltimore archbishop for nearly two decades, released a list of 57 priests accused of sexual abuse, earning himself a reputation for transparency at a time when the nationwide scope of wrongdoing remained largely unexposed. That changed, however, when a Pennsylvania grand jury accused Keeler of covering up sexual abuse allegations while serving as bishop of Harrisburg in the 1980s.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Leading the push for a Virginia-based FBI are the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Warner, in discussing the “ferocious debate,” referred to Hoyer in the practiced and professional tones of a heavyweight rival in a boxing match with thousands of jobs on the line.
“I’ve got great respect for Mr. Hoyer, and I’m anxious that the process proceed,” Warner said. “We’ve got criteria, we made our last and best final offers last week and I feel good about where Virginia stands.”
The FBI headquarters face-off has stoked fierce divisions among two congressional delegations that interact more than nearly every other pair of states, excepting the Dakotas or Carolinas. Yet it’s not the only fresh fault line between Virginia and Maryland, whose Democratic senators split over disapproving a progressive D.C. crime law, with the former duo backing the rollback and the latter backing the D.C. Council.
Then, of course, there are the standard tension points: bragging rights over the Chesapeake’s famous blue crab and football (the Virginia Cavaliers are set to take on the Maryland Terrapins this fall).
The FBI battle has dramatically intensified recently, ever since Marylanders learned that Virginia would have at least one leg up in the process. That’s because the agency leading the headquarters hunt, the General Services Administration, plans to weigh the two sites’ proximity to the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., as a larger part of its overall decision.
“This goes beyond a rivalry,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “This is about the mission of the FBI and getting the taxpayers the best deal.” But Van Hollen made one point clear: “The oyster wars, that was part of our longstanding rivalry. Just for the record, Maryland won the oyster wars.”
Members of the two Senate delegations, all of them Democrats, insist though that they agree on more than they disagree, highlighting their work together on WMATA funding, H-2B visas and their support for federal employees.
“Generally, we’re together more than not,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “I have the utmost respect for my two colleagues from Virginia.”
Still, the competition is stiff for the FBI building. Hoyer, the former House majority leader, is perhaps the most fervent FBI-to-Maryland booster of all. He recently drove to Virginia’s proposed headquarters site in Springfield, snapping cell phone photos to help make his case.
More than a decade after then-FBI director Robert Mueller first walked into his office to discuss the subject, Hoyer estimated in an interview that he spends about one-fifth of his time per week on the new headquarters. He’s worked with Wes Moore, Maryland’s rising-star governor, to deploy every possible resource on their state’s behalf, including personal pleas to Biden and the new White House chief of staff, Marylander Jeff Zients.
The Free State’s pitch is bolstered by the NAACP as well as civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, centered on a push for equity that Black community advocates say is critical for Prince George’s County — and for Biden’s own reelection.
And that pressure campaign has infuriated many Virginians, some of whom have quietly gone to the White House themselves with an entreaty to ignore it.
Things could soon get even nastier. Hoyer did not rule out flexing some of his power over the federal purse this fall if Maryland’s bid is rejected. He and Van Hollen are both the top Democrats on a spending panel that oversees funding for the very agency in charge of the headquarters search, the GSA.
“I don’t think we’d go quietly into that dark night,” Hoyer said when asked if he would try to influence the selection through his Appropriations Committee perch if Virginia wins. “Van Hollen and I will still be where we’ll be.”
Virginians, though, insist they wouldn’t let the FBI building clash derail another spending bill. The headquarters was one of the final hangups delaying passage of December’s government funding deal, with Hoyer in particular refusing to yield until he secured new language that helped keep Maryland’s bid alive.
Maryland’s stance shocked the Virginians, including Warner, who ultimately went to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to help end the standoff. Schumer eventually reached a deal with the two delegations.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who represents the Springfield site, responded coolly to Hoyer’s suggestion that another spending bill could hang in the balance: “Threats to retaliate against a professional decision made on the merits, I think, are unworthy of any senior member of Congress, and I hope will not work.”
Connolly himself has plenty of experience with Beltway-state squabbling that, as he put it, “goes back to King Charles.” As a top official in Fairfax County, he once got embroiled in a lawsuit between the two states over the location of a drinking water pipe that went all the way to the Supreme Court — which ultimately ruled for the Old Dominion.
He added that he’s disappointed by the “element of desperation” in Maryland’s jockeying during the last few months, particularly its case for diversity and equity — he pointed to the more than 100 languages spoken in Springfield.
Kaine, meanwhile, insisted that the fight for the FBI building is not an anomaly for the two states and described it as a “friendly competition.”
“I don’t view this as different than other instances where Maryland and Virginia have squared off,” Kaine said. “Virginia would love to have NIH. Virginia would love to have some of the intel agencies, the NSA in Maryland. I’m sure Maryland would love to have some of the things that are in Virginia.”
This time, however, the Hill is paying even more attention to the two states because they’re also home to two national political players in their respective parties: Moore and Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s Republican governor.
Moore and Youngkin have been planning to sit down together after they both won in November, according to a person familiar with the discussions. In the meantime, Moore challenged Youngkin to a one-on-one pickup basketball game to determine the FBI’s future hub. (When Youngkin didn’t respond, Moore accurately picked UVA to lose in the first upset of March Madness in his bracket. The Terps won the same day.)
While Virginia Democrats acknowledge it’s a bit awkward to root for handing Youngkin a big political win in the FBI building as he eyes a potential 2024 bid, they say a bipartisan approach is also critical. Kaine, Warner and Youngkin wrote a joint Washington Post op-ed on Thursday that made the case again for their state. And if Maryland makes any maneuvers in year-end spending bills, for instance, Youngkin could call on House GOP leaders to stop them.
Hoyer predicted Youngkin wouldn’t hesitate to use a potential FBI win on the campaign trail, whether he’s seeking his party’s presidential nod or a different prize. “I’m sure he would,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are already looking ahead to what could be the next fight. The White House announced last week that Biden’s new disease-fighting agency, ARPA-H, will house its headquarters in the D.C. metro area.
Its location will be chosen by GSA.
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In an interview, Cardin made clear he’s not calling it quits yet. He cracked about those raising money with the Senate in mind: “If they raise money now, they can turn it over to me, can’t they?”
“I guess they’re ahead of themselves,” Cardin said, reiterating his end of March timeline. “I’m not concerned about what other people might be doing.”
Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are getting most of the attention in the latest edition of the chamber’s biennial retirement watch. Yet blue states like Maryland can earn even more scrutiny than battlegrounds within the Democratic Party, because a primary win in an open race can turn into a long and cushy Senate tenure. And Cardin is hardly the only one under pressure.
Two members of the California House delegation are launching Senate bids without bothering to wait for a retirement announcement from 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, with a third on the way. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) is open to succeeding Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) if he decides to retire. And though Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) is running for a third term, everyone’s quietly keeping an eye on Vacationland — just in case.
That jockeying is drawing particular attention in Maryland — because Cardin might actually run again.
“There’s a lot of people talking about it,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey, a freshman Democrat who represents part of Prince George’s County. “You got a deep bench in Maryland, too. So there’s a lot of people who could, I think, be strong candidates.”
First elected to Congress in 1986, Cardin has drawn notice after raising less than $30,000 over the last three months and ending December with just over $1 million in the bank. That has many Maryland politicos betting that his deep-blue seat will open up.
“He’s a mentor to me. And I’ve been here a long time,” quipped Democratic Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger about Cardin, adding that he hoped the senator wouldn’t retire.
An early frontrunner could be the 51-year-old Alsobrooks, the first woman ever to serve as executive of her native Prince George’s County and the youngest person ever to be elected as state’s attorney there.
Alsobrooks is a proven fundraiser who considered running for governor in 2022 but chose instead to seek reelection to her county post. Asked about a Senate run in a WJLA interview that aired Thursday, Alsobrooks said she would consider it if the seat was open: “It would be an amazing opportunity to represent the state.”
She has taken perhaps the most concrete steps toward a run. Dave Chase, who managed former Rep. Tim Ryan’s 2022 Ohio Senate campaign, has joined Alsobrooks’ political operation, which has also begun engaging with consultants.
Trone is having conversations with potential senior staff hires who could help him mount a statewide campaign, according to three sources familiar with his preparations.
The owner of the Total Wine & More empire, Trone would bring nearly unlimited cash to any race, after investing over $13 million of his largesse in a failed 2016 House bid. Raskin ultimately won that seat and Trone ran and won a different district in 2018, which he has held since.
Both Trone and Alsobrooks declined to comment through spokespeople.
Raskin, a constitutional law scholar, gained national prominence for his lead role in former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment. But he is also currently battling lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. In an interview with POLITICO, he said he would not rule out a Senate run but that his focus is on his health.
“When people call me, I tell them, ‘Thank you,’” Raskin said. “But I just got to get through this. And then I’ll be able to think about the future.”
He may decline the statewide run for another reason: His recent ascension as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
The current shadow field lacks geographic diversity. All three Democrats are from the D.C.-area — and some will want a Charm City Democrat to succeed Cardin, who speaks with a notable Baltimore accent. Johnny Olszewski Jr., the Baltimore County executive, has been floated for a Senate bid but is seen as more likely to eventually replace Ruppersberger in the House, should he retire.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) advised other Democrats to buzz off while Cardin decides: “Everyone should give him room.”
One state away on I-95, Carper says he’s doing everything he needs to win reelection. He raised about $180,000 in the final quarter of 2022, significantly more than Cardin, Feinstein or King. A fourth-term senator, Carper has served in politics since the 1970s. And he’s not super eager to start his next campaign — or talk about it.
“Campaigns are too long and too expensive,” Carper said. “I shorten the campaigns as much as I can. So, I’m doing what I need to do to be able to run. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Carper, 76, faced a primary challenge in 2018, winning the nominating contest with 64 percent of the vote. His state is much smaller than Maryland, and thus there are fewer people jockeying to succeed him. But there are obvious contenders: Democratic Gov. John Carney and Blunt Rochester, who in 2016 became the first woman to represent Delaware in Congress.
“If the seat was open, I would definitely consider it,” Blunt Rochester said. She said she was focused on serving Delaware in the House but would “be prepared for whatever comes.”
Maine, meanwhile, has small benches for both parties. And King’s $56,000 in fundraising has raised eyebrows. But the 78-year-old senator is batting away any suggestion he might not run.
“I could be struck by lightning. But I am running,” King said of those who say his slow fundraising points to a possible retirement. “I’m doing all the mechanical things. It is two years away. Olympia Snowe once said, ‘there are only two ways to run: Scared and unopposed.’”
Snowe, of course, blindsided the GOP with her retirement in 2012 and opened the door for King’s election.
And while shadow races often form in states where an aging senator seems ripe for retirement, California has been the most active.
Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter launched bids for Feinstein’s seat, which she has held since 1992. The incumbent has not said whether or not she will step down at the end of her term. A third colleague, Rep. Barbara Lee, is preparing to join the field.
“It is definitely awkward, but I believe that people are predicting what could happen in the future,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.).
It’s all a little much for Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who runs Democrats’ campaign arm. Given that even primary elections are more than a year away, he said: “Folks should be respectful to the person who is in office.”
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