Maryland Senate results: Democrat Angela Alsobrooks defeats Larry Hogan

Democrats got a boost in their against-the-odds attempt to hold the US Senate on Tuesday when Angela Alsobrooks, the executive of Prince George's county, defeated the former Republican governor Larry Hogan for an open seat.

Endorsed and supported by Kamala Harris, Barack Obama and other Democratic luminaries, Alsobrooks is only the fourth Black woman ever elected to the US Senate . Harris was the second, from California in 2016 and following Carol Moseley Braun, who represented Illinois between 1993 and 1999. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who won election in Delaware earlier on Tuesday, pipped Alsobrooks for third.

Hogan, a popular moderate, sought to attract split-ticket voters by keeping his distance from Donald Trump and other Republican extremists, despite having the former president's endorsement. That effort took a blow last month, though, when Hogan was reported to have stressed the Trump endorsement during a call with donors.

Also in October, at a campaign event in Baltimore, Alsobrooks told the Guardian that her priorities in office would include "reproductive freedom, sensible gun legislation that will help us to eradicate the gun violence that we've seen in an epidemic across our country ... economic opportunity that considers a path forward for the middle class [and] preserving freedoms and democracy. And I think that message resonates with Marylanders."

On Tuesday, Marylanders agreed. Alsobrooks's win boosted Democrats' admittedly slim hopes of holding the Senate, which they controlled by 51-49 before polls closed.

Read more of the Guardian's 2024 US election coverage