Over the question, should the u. S. Shut its borders . Watch at friday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan and online and welcome back to washington journal. We are joineubasin , the Deputy Editor of inside elections. Lclets start with the prifroma. Maryland was the Maryland Senate race was determined on ll us what happens. There was a very closely watched democratic primary in maryland. Ators not running for reelection. Candidates, prince georges countyxecutive and western maryland congressman vying for the nomination. What made this race interesting was that truax and spent 62 million of his own money. He is very wealthy on this race. Money than anyone has selffunded in a self primary in american history. Alsobrooks spe a her campaign. When those were tallied she won by 12 points. A stunning result looking at the financial picture. On the republican side former governor there he hogan. He will be there nominee. Heill make maryland, which is traditionally a blue Democratic State into a toptier host lee primary on the democratic side. Why do you think given how much money david truon david trone spent why do you think Angela Alsobrooks was socessl by 12 points . Guest the underlying factor is you can have all the moneye wort buying what youre selling it wont ge the. He hit a diminishing marginal return on every additional Million Dollars he put on tv everyone knew who he was and who he was about. Hiey didnt want to f elections are choices. When alsobrooks spun up her operation and voters knew that they had aice, they felt they would rather go with her. Trone did not close out the race strongly. Head number of gaffes. He used a racial slurs in a congressional hearit was bad nes for him in the final month, that very crucial in of the race. Ultimately, it shows in the results. Host you are talking about the senateblican governor of marylad larry hogan, who was a very popular governor, and Angela Alsobrooks. You were saying that maryland is very much a very much leans democratic. Why could this be competitive . Guest of hogans popularity. We saw him win two electionsd a8 that was a good democratic year in maryland, hogan was able to appeal to independents and democrats. If you look at his numbers he is as popular in some cases, maybe not now, but yeaago as popular among democrats as republicans in maryland. Has significant support among aditionally democratic constituency. High numbers among independents. He brings a lot to the table. It makes him competitive. It doesnt make him a favorite. Even governors who are popular in states, when they try to run for senate often they se the deal. Host why is that . Guest voters really do Pay Attention to the differences between a governors race and a senate race. Governor is dealing with things internal to the state. They are not executives. They are dealing with the state legislature. That is the power dynamic there. Voters in states that have a particular partisan bent, maryland, massachusetts, or vermont, appreciate having a govee otr party to provide some semblance of balance at the state and state political level. But the Senate Matters on a National Level of democrats or republicans controlled the senate. The partyiliation of any senator is arguably more important than the Party Affiliation of a larry hogan is a rep and maryland is a Democratic State. Even voters like him, they dont like republicans. They dont want republicans to be in charge of making policy at a National Level, and that will be democrats most compelling argument tom the fall. We are focusing 2024. If you have a question for Jacob Rubashkin of inside elections, you can give us a call. The lines are by region this time. Sorry, by party. Democrats, 202 7488000. 202 7488001. 2 7488002. You can send us a text, 202 7488003we are on facebook and. Lets talk about West Virginia. That has joe manchin, democrat, who has announced his retirement. Ou looking at . Guest this is crucial for the is bfar republicans best pickup opportunity. The senas 51 cats and 49 r. If trump wins the presidency, then all of the republi n flip e to reclaim majority. That is 5050 split with the Vice President ial tiebreaking vote. As the only democrat who could hold ae seat in West Virginia. This is a state that has become so republican t miracle that joe manchin was able to win in 2018. Host why was he able to win . Guest it was really good year for democrats, again, with the Trump Presidency motivating democratic voters in all corners of the country, even places where democrats havent shown much strengthately. He had that going for him. He had a weakponent in patrick s going to now be the next at that time he came out bruised from a primary and didnveof mo. Joe manchin was popular. Democrats in the state that would never cast a ballot for another democrat except for joe manchin. He was able to win by under three points. He writing on the wall. Elecon. Why he decided not to governor jim justice come the outgoing governor, is going to be the next senator. He won a convincing victory in the republican primary and should have no problem with the tion in the fall. Host zooming out to the senate general, your recent newsletter had the title, with donald trump leang biden in the president ial race, republicans have a great opportunity ton 2024. Explain that. Guest the senate is 51 democrats, give or take a few who caucus with them, 49 republicans. To get to ay republicans need to win two seats. Theyavthat means that if they w, they will have control of the matter who was president. It gets better for tm because if donald trump wins the presidency, we know that a 5050 senate is broken by the Vice President. If the vice pa republican, then a 5050 senate is a republican senate. Ri now, if we look at the map as is and remove West Virginia from the democratic column to the republican column, that is a 5050 senate. Trump is up in the polls. If the election was today he would have a good shot at winning. Democrats are on their heels in the senate. Be dficult for them to maintain the majority. It is going toe or them to maintain a majority if trump wins the presidency this fall. Host inside ele chaioed a rating for the Arizona Senate race. Guest it is not all bad news for democrats in the senate. I know that i sound a little bit negative. Its predominately bad news, but there are a few bright spots. One is arizona. This was a very complex race when independent senator Kyrsten Sinema was talking about running for reelection as an independent. S ra that we see a threeperson senate race this day and age. Enhe g out and became more clear how the race was going to look. The democratic likely nominee, the republic nominee or likely republican nominee, are held are headed towards a clash this fall. At was ruben has some real advantages in this race. He has a tremendous financial advantage. And he has the opportunity to introduce himself to voters in a favorable way. Lake has less money as unpopula2 gubernatorial run. You combine those factors and you look at the posture of National Republicans who are ve about montana, ohio, and a few other states and dont want toal arizona, who arent as convinced and may not put anyg to be money towards helping lake win the race. All of that points toture where democrats are slightly favored to hold that seat. Host to callers. Michelle, independent in maryland. Caller hello, can you hear me . Yes, go ahead. Caller i wanted to talk about itics. It is my pet p flynn maryland is painted as a Democratic State. Hogan was very popular. Maryland had another republican governor in recent years. I can think of his name, pe can. If you look at the counties in maryland, the only strong democratic counties are pg county, predominantly montgomery, anne arundel, and howard county. Howard and Montgomery County are not strong every other county it democratic. That is why you have the flipflop. You have hogan, you have the other republican governor who n maryland. It is a misnomer that maryland is a strong Democratic State,bes really the strongest. Host have you decided to vote for larry hogan in november . Caller i did vote for larry hogan previously, inem as an africanamerican woman, ge alsobrooks is the first africanamerican woman that we would send to the senate. So, i reason. I think i like how she ran our county forhe most part. She did bring crime down. It wast time for her as the county executive in the current political environment we are in trying to run our county. Yes, i will support Angela Alsobrooks. Jacob . Guest i think that that is a good example of why larry hogan is the underdog in the race. You have voters who voted for him not once but twice in governor races who are not even, at this earlytalking about votin a senate race. He won over a lot of voters who would not otherwise vote for a ruing for governor. Talking about steep tariff increases on chinese imporinclue batteries, computer chips and medical products. Then Tom Mcclintock military aid to israel, immigration and other in the 70th anniversary of brown versus the board of education. Cspans washington journal on cspan, cspan now or online at cspan. Org. Cspan is your unfiltered including buckeye broadband