CUMBERLAND, Maryland — When former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan won the Republican primary race last month for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, many experts speculated that would be his high-water mark and everything would go downhill from there.

Case in point: When Angela Alsobrooks emerged as the winner of the Democratic primary, Politico reported that the Prince George’s County executive was on the precipice of making history as Maryland’s first black senator.