Maryland Officials To Blast Rep. David Trone Over 'Low-Level' Comment

A slew of Maryland officials plan to go on the offensive against Rep. David Trone, a contender for the state’s open Senate seat, after he referred to supporters of his Democratic primary opponent as “low-level.”

Trone made the comments during an NBC segment on Wednesday comparing Trone and his chief rival, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

“The people that know [Prince George’s County] the best, ironically, all came to us,” Trone told an NBC reporter of his primary endorsers.

“But not a majority,” the reporter countered.

“The people in Prince George’s County who stuck with her are the low-level folks,” Trone said. “The top-level folks — that’s called the attorney general, I think. I think that’s called the state’s attorney — I think. I think that’s called the senior [state] senator — I think. I think they’re the top-level folks.”

The tit-for-tat over endorsements comes after former Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski this week endorsed Alsobrooks, adding to her roster of top Democratic backers that also includes Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

Trone’s campaign in a statement reiterated his support among some Prince George’s County officials, and noted: “While David has focused on the ways that Washington is broken and proposed bold ideas that can fix Washington, our opponents and their supporters have fixated on which politicians have what status.”

Nearly two dozen local elected leaders plan to release statements Saturday calling out Trone for the “low-level” remark, including county council members, Maryland delegates and state senators from Alsobrooks’ home county and surrounding areas, HuffPost has learned.

“By calling a majority of the county council, seven of our eight state