For her first major campaign appearance in the general election, U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks went right to the top of American politics, appearing alongside Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday to promote gun violence prevention.

Harris offered an enthusiastic endorsement for Alsobrooks, saying that she’ll help Democrats keep the majority in the U.S. Senate and pass “common sense” gun-control laws.

“I was so proud to support her when she was state’s attorney, and to endorse her when she was county executive and today, I proudly endorse Angela Alsobrooks for the United States Senate,” Harris said to cheers from about a crowd of about 200 people at a community center in Landover.

“She will be an experienced leader on this issue when she is in the United States Senate, and that matters,” Harris said.

Harris, Alsobrooks and other Democratic politicians painted a picture of a nation that desperately needs measures to combat gun violence, such as more background checks, “red flag” laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who may hurt themselves or others and a ban on assault weapons — and they said that Democrats are the only ones who will deliver.

“We will not accomplish these goals to keep America safe without a Senate majority,” Alsobrooks said. “The path to the majority runs through Maryland.”

Republicans like presidential candidate Donald Trump and Senate nominee Larry Hogan, in comparison, would do nothing to combat gun violence, Democratic leaders claimed in speeches to an audience filled with mostly young volunteers affiliated with organizations that combat gun violence.

Harris said Trump promised action after multiple mass shootings, but in the end, “he folded.”

Hogan’s campaign issued a statement in response to the Democratic rally, claiming that violent crime is up in Prince George’s County under Alsobrooks’ leadership as county executive.

“Instead of just offering more platitudes, we urge her to tell votes how she will address the skyrocketing crime on her watch in Prince George’s County,” read the campaign’s statement.

Alsobrooks has been county executive for Prince George’s since 2018; before that, she was the elected state’s attorney for that county. One of Alsobrooks’ key campaign talking points is that violent crime decreased while she was state’s attorney from 2011 through 2018.

Violent crime dropped across Maryland by 33% during that time frame, but the most precipitous drop in the state was recorded in Prince George’s County, with a 58% decline, according to a Baltimore Banner data analysis.

But since Alsobrooks has been county executive, homicides have climbed upward: from 75 in her first full year in office in 2019 to 118 last year.

Alsobrooks pledged that, if elected to the Senate, she will vote for universal background checks for gun sales, to ban assault weapons, to combat illegal gun trafficking and to “hold gun manufacturers accountable.”

Alsobrooks and Hogan are engaged in a battle to win a U.S. Senate seat for Maryland that will be open following longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin’s decision not to run for reelection this year. Though Maryland hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate in decades, both parties recognize that Hogan is a formidable candidate.

Maryland’s voters are roughly 53% Democrats, 24% Republicans and 22% unaffiliated with any party. Hogan overcame that party deficit to twice win elections for governor, and he had strong approval ratings.

Maryland has drawn national attention this campaign season — a rarity for this state — because this race one of a handful that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Harris’ visit was a clear attempt to boost Alsobrooks’ chances in the race, as President Joe Biden and Harris are expected to have strong support in Maryland. In the last presidential election in 2020, Biden handily defeated Trump in Maryland, 65% to 32%.

Neither Harris nor Alsobrooks mentioned Hogan by name, but Gov. Wes Moore seemed to relish the opportunity to blast his predecessor.

When he took office in 2023, Moore said he walked into a situation where the state had seen increases in homicides and nonfatal shootings, including “bloodshed” in Baltimore where homicides topped 300 for eight years.

While Democratic lawmakers passed legislation expanding background checks, banning untraceable ghost guns and preventing gun theft, Moore said, Hogan was a roadblock.

“Every single time that those bills made it to the second floor [of the State House] and to the governor’s desk, they were met with a veto,” Moore said. “A veto.”

Moore quoted author James Baldwin: “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.”

“You don’t have the luxury now to pretend like those eight years didn’t matter ... and act like in those eight years you did all that you could,” Moore said. “Because you didn’t.”

At the end of the event, Harris, Alsobrooks and Moore grabbed hands and thrust their arms up in the air, to cheers and applause.