Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) went after Senate opponent Angela Alsobrooks (D) in the first attack ad of his campaign on Friday, hitting the Prince George’s County executive over her record on crime.
The one-minute ad, titled “Just the Facts,” claims Alsobrooks isn’t telling the truth when she brags about falling crime rates in the county under her leadership.
Hogan’s advertisement says that Alsobrooks’s claims of a “50 percent decrease in crime” on her watch clashes with about 30 percent increase in violent crime in the county since she became its executive in late 2018. The 50 percent claim, however, is based on federal data during her tenure as the county’s prosecutor.
From 2011 to 2018, when Alsobrooks was state’s attorney, crime did fall by about half. When she took over as county executive, the county had just experienced its lowest level of crime since at least 1985, according to FBI data.
Crime has risen since 2018, with total crime up about 33 percent through 2022, according to the same FBI data. However, the crime rate in Prince George’s County remains lower than any year on record before she was state’s attorney.
As for Hogan’s claims of a recent rise in crime in the county, total crime is down by 10 percent so far this year, while violent crime is up by 12 percent year-on-year, according to county police data.
Much of that increase is tied to an increase in domestic violence and assault arrests, according to county data. The county’s 47 homicides so far this year is about the same as 2023.
The ad concludes by calling Alsobrooks “another typical political who doesn’t deliver.”
Hogan refused to go as far as calling it an attack in an interview with The Washington Examiner on Sunday.
“I don’t know if it’s an attack ad. It’s more of a comparison,” Hogan said. “It’s all factual, and it’s about her record. I’m not attacking her personally. They’ve been pretty personal and pretty negative from Day 1 since the day I announced. This is more, like, ‘Hey, maybe you weren’t aware of the fact that her record on crime is terrible.’”
Hogan’s campaign has focused on public safety as one of its top issues, as the former governor leans on his reputation as a moderate. Hogan’s late announcement that he would seek to succeed retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) quickly shook up the race, which was previously expected to be an easy win for Democrats.
Alsobrooks’s campaign has attempted to tie Hogan to former President Trump, which has been helped by Trump’s endorsement of Hogan last week. The governor, among his party’s most consistent critics of Trump, has said he did not seek or want the ex-president’s approval.
Alsobrooks leads Hogan in the limited polling so far in the race. She has an 8.3 percent lead over the former governor, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls.
The Hill has reached out to the Alsobrooks campaign for comment.