{"id":6032,"date":"2024-01-03T05:48:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T05:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6032"},"modified":"2024-02-13T05:53:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T05:53:23","slug":"can-you-buy-a-senate-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6032","title":{"rendered":"Can You Buy a Senate Seat?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/julianne-malveaux\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Julianne Malveaux<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George\u2019s County Executive, is an energetic, knowledgeable public servant. An attorney, mom and activist, she led Maryland\u2019s largest county through the pandemic, providing much-needed assistance for needy citizens. Prince George\u2019s County is a heavily Black area next to Washington, D.C. It is also one of the wealthiest counties for Black people. Some of us jokingly call it \u201cWard 9\u201d because of its proximity to D.C. (which has eight wards) and because so many D.C. influentials live there. Angela is one of three Black women running for Democratic seats in the United States Senate in 2024 (Barbara Lee in California and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Delaware), and her main opponent in the Democratic primary is Democratic congressman and billionaire David Trone, who has three congressional terms and a liquor empire to his name.<\/p>\n<aside><\/aside>\n<p>Trone (D) once said, \u201cI\u2019m willing to spend a lot more money than anybody else.\u201d He\u2019s done it before, spending more than $10 million on each of his congressional races. So far in the Senate race, Trone has spent $9.8 million of his own money. Alsobrooks, with a far more modest portfolio, has raised $3.3 million. She has 15 times more individual donors than Trone, who says he won\u2019t take PAC money and only wants small contributions. His willingness to spend more money than anyone else reflects the arrogance of wealth. It means he can buy anything, even a Senate seat.<\/p>\n<p>Trone says his self-financed campaign means says it means he is not beholden to political action committees or other external financing organizations. It also means he is not accountable to anyone. While some of his work in Congress suggests that he might support good programs, like second chance legislation for ex-offenders, self-financing also means he is free to support the interests of the wealthy, especially around taxation and income distribution.<\/p>\n<p>Trone\u2019s decision to self-finance his campaign highlights his commitment to focusing solely on the needs of his constituents without the influence of external financial organizations. By refusing PAC money, he aims to ensure that his policies and decisions are shaped solely by the interests of the people he represents. Trone has used his considerable wealth to support causes like his alma mater, Furman University, and cultural concerns like the Baltimore Symphony. But he has also supported Republican extremists who oppose a woman\u2019s right to choose. That ought to be a non-starter in blue Maryland, but Trone has enlisted some popular Democrats to support him.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Congressman Jonathan Jackson (D) has a cable commercial running ad nauseam. While Jackson should not support Alsobrooks only because she is a Black woman who would add to Senate diversity and expertise, if he is true to the mission of his dad\u2019s Rainbow Coalition, Alsobrooks should be an easy choice. Similarly, House Minority Leader New York\u2019s Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Trone on Dec. 18, a lump in Alsobrooks\u2019 holiday stocking. While most Maryland congressional Democrats and Gov. Wes Moore support Alsobrooks, the highest-ranking Democrat in the House chose to oppose the endorsement of most of his Maryland members to curry to a liquor magnate.<\/p>\n<p>Many Alsobrooks supporters are, at best, disappointed by Jackson and Jeffries. One has to wonder what kinds of incentives Trone offered to secure their endorsements. But the outcome of the Los Angeles mayoral race, where Mayor Karen Bass was outspent by a factor of ten by her billionaire opponent Rick Caruso, suggests that Trone\u2019s money may not buy him a Senate seat. Alsobrooks has already visited each of Maryland\u2019s 22 counties and Baltimore City (part of Baltimore County but with a separate governmental structure) and has support in every county. Trone has the cash and can rack up some endorsements, but votes tell the story at the end of the day.<\/p>\n<p>This might be a local story, but for the disrespect that Trone has shown to Angela Alsobrooks and the growing trend of black women being forced to manage disrespect. Trone had the temerity to criticize Alsobrooks\u2019 \u201cexperience,\u201d touting his thin Congressional record. It reminds me of Malcolm X saying, \u201cThe most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected, the most neglected person in America is the Black woman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alsobrooks is juggling challenging news and financial challenges. However, she is buoyed by Black women and men who support her expertise, intelligence, and accomplishments. Can you buy a Senate seat? Not when millions of voters say \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/black-women-senate-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Julianne Malveaux Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George\u2019s County Executive, is an energetic, knowledgeable public servant. An attorney, mom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6034,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6032\/revisions\/6034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}