Maryland candidates debate abortion rights in race for U.S. Senate

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Democrat Angela Alsobrooks highlighted former Gov. Larry Hogan’s actions in office as evidence he doesn’t support all that much Abortion rights as he now claims, while Hogan dismissed the criticism during a debate in the high-profile Senate race in Maryland.

Alsobrooks criticized during the hour-long debate on Maryland Public Television Hogan’s veto of a bill in 2022 to expand abortion rights by removing a restriction that only doctors in the state could perform abortions. Lawmakers overrode the veto, and the law allows nurses, midwives and physician assistants to provide care.

“The Republican Party has declared war on women’s reproductive freedoms,” Alsobrooks said. “We recognize that this party of chaos and division led by (former President) Donald Trump cannot lead our country and is also having serious consequences for Marylanders.”

Hogan emphasized that he supports abortion rights and said Alsobrooks’ criticism of him does not reflect his position. He said he would introduce legislation to codify Roe v. Support Wade, which was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2022. The former governor said his veto was due to concerns that health care providers who were not doctors could perform abortions.

“It has allowed laypeople to lie about something as important as this issue and it’s really insulting,” Hogan said.

The former governor also said he will be an independent voice who confronts partisanship in the Senate and does what he believes is best for the nation.

“You won’t hear anything other than red vs. blue,” Hogan said. “I care more – much more – about red, white and blue.”

The race is drawing national attention because it is unusually competitive this year in a deep blue state where its outcome could determine whether Democrats or Republicans win control of the Senate.

Democrats currently hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate, including independent senators who caucus with Democrats. And Democrats must defend 23 of the 33 Senate seats up for vote nationwide in November.

If elected, Alsobrooks would be Maryland’s first black U.S. senator.

While no Republican has won a Senate election in Maryland in more than 40 years, Hogan enjoys a high profile. In the last two U.S. Senate elections in Maryland, the Democratic candidate won by more than 30 percentage points against unknown candidates. But Hogan, who once considered a presidential run and often appeared on national news shows, is the most formidable Republican candidate in years.

In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1, the popular two-term former governor attracted enough Democratic voters to win two statewide elections in 2014 and 2018.

Despite it, Hogan has a hard time threading a needle. This election marked the first time that Hogan ran on the same ballot as Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Maryland. Hogan was one of the GOP’s harshest Trump critics, which helped him win the support of some Democrats but also risked alienating some Republican voters.

After the US Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade rebuffed, abortion rights have become a major campaign issue across the country. Maryland voters will decide in November whether to pass a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Maryland is one of nine states that have abortion rights on the ballot this year.

Since 2018, Alsobrooks has served as county executive of Prince George’s County, Maryland’s second-largest judicial district in the suburbs of the state capital. She previously served as the county’s top prosecutor since 2011.