THE BALTIMORE SUN — In one of the first public clashes between the top Democrats in Maryland’s open Senate race, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone largely agreed on policy while targeting each other’s political backgrounds during a forum Sunday in Bladensburg.

The race — in the seven months since Alsobrooks began winning endorsements from most of the state’s Democratic leaders and Trone launched an early and aggressive advertising blitz on his own dime — has been mostly cordial.

But simmering differences were on display in front of a crowd of a few hundred people hosted by the Latino Democrats of Prince George’s County in the Elizabeth Seton High School auditorium.

The mostly friendly forum touched on a variety of issues as Trone, Alsobrooks and Juan Dominguez — a former business executive from Anne Arundel County who also is running — agreed on policies to expand access to voting, pass comprehensive immigration reforms and invest more federal resources in education.

While all three said they support protecting access to abortion in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue led to one of the few other targeted salvos as Alsobrooks said Trone previously donated to Republicans who fought to ban abortion.

Dominguez, who joined the race in September after quitting his job as an executive at Breezeline, a telecommunications company, said he would support expanding the nine-member U.S. Supreme Court to protect reproductive rights and other progressive causes.

The political newcomer highlighted other progressive elements of his platform throughout the discussion — mainly, that revenue from a “wealth tax” on the top 1% of earners would go toward providing free public college, paid family leave and universal pre-K. He said he also supports implementing a universal basic income that would give $1,000 a month to every adult.

In a forum that included several questions about supporting Maryland’s Latino population, which makes up 11.5% of people statewide, Dominguez noted he would be the first Latino candidate elected to federal office in Maryland.

“The fact that Latinos across Maryland and this country have not had the representation they deserve is something that we can correct in this next election,” said Dominguez, who stressed that solving the southern border “crisis” should be President Joe Biden’s immediate top priority if he wins reelection next year.