Alsobrooks offers tribute to Harris as friend, mentor, roll model

“Ever since Donald Trump rode down that ridiculous elevator, we as a nation have felt trapped,” Alsobrooks said. “Every national decision has been made in reaction to this one man and his extremist MAGA movement. We are still frozen by the fear that Donald Trump might once again come to power.”

“And it’s not just our politics that have been trapped. It’s our imagination. And then, Kamala came along,” Alsobrooks told the roaring crowd in the United Center. “Kamala has reminded us that we don’t need to fear anything. Not the future and certainly not that man.”

Alsobrooks, first elected county executive in 2018, is running in a high-profile Senate race against former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan for the seat of retiring Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland. She did not mention Hogan in her address.

The race could help decide the party balance in the Senate, where Democrats currently have a razor-thin majority.

The Senate candidate said she first heard of Harris through a 2009 Essence magazine article profiling the then-San Francisco district attorney.

Alsobrooks, who was running for Prince George’s County state’s attorney at the time, said she was inspired by Harris’ “Back on Track” program for rehabilitating some non-violent offenders through job training, GEDs and apprenticeships.

Days after Alsobrooks won her election in 2010 – after a campaign in which she talked about Harris “non-stop” – she received a call from Harris congratulating Alsobrooks and asking to help. A mentorship and a friendship was born.

The now-Democratic presidential nominee, Alsobrooks said, helped bring “Back on Track” to Maryland, where crime decreased and the economy improved.

“Getting justice for others isn’t a power trip for her – it’s a sacred calling,” Alsobrooks said. “And hear me – Kamala Harris knows how to keep criminals off the streets. And come November, with your help, she’ll keep one out of the Oval Office.”

Alsobrooks recalled her grandmother’s determination to get a job in the government, which required a typing test. Without money for a typewriter, her grandmother drew a keyboard on a piece of paper and practiced typing with it taped on her refrigerator door.

“I’ve always been inspired by women like my grandmother – women who imagine a better future and then have the grit to make it a reality,” Alsobrooks said, adding that Harris is one such woman.

Alsobrooks also repeated the now-popular Democratic chant “we’re not going back,” which the packed crowd echoed multiple times.

Cheering on from the Maryland section were both Maryland senators, Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, along with four of the House members from the state – Glenn Ivey, John Sarbanes, Jamie Raskin and Kweisi Mfume.

Van Hollen told Capital News Service afterward that Alsobrooks “had a grand slam, knocked it out of the park.”

“People were really paying attention,” Van Hollen said.

Cardin called Alsobrooks “one of the rising stars of the Democratic Party.”

In the Democratic primary, Alsobrooks beat current Rep. David Trone, D-Maryland, by over 10 percentage points despite being outspent by over $50 million.

Alsobrooks became the second Maryland politician to address the 2024 convention, following Rep. Jamie Raskin’s Monday remarks. Gov. Wes Moore, D-Maryland, is expected to speak later this week.