Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday told a crowd of more than 100 activists in Maryland that they need to elect Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks to the U.S. Senate if Democrats are to have a shot at passing more restrictive gun laws.

“This November, you have the power to elect leaders who have actually kept our communities safe,” she said. “You have the power to send Angela Alsobrooks to the United States Senate and help us win back the House as well.”

Ms. Harris spoke at a rally for Ms. Alsobrooks in Landover, just outside Washington, to mark Gun Violence Awareness Day. The curated crowd of gun violence prevention and youth activists included groups like Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, Brady, Team ENOUGH, Giffords and Voters of Tomorrow.

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She joked that she has known Ms. Alsobrooks longer than some of the youth activists have been alive, noting, “She is a leader with deep conviction and compassion.”

The rally was held in the gymnasium of Kentland Community Center in Landover, Prince George’s County, where Ms. Alsobrooks has served as county executive since 2018.

A local woman, Tiffani Evans, whose eight-year-old son P.J. was killed by a stray bullet that came into their home while they were eating dinner, introduced Ms. Alsobrooks.

“Angela Alsobrooks has been a steady source of support,” Ms. Evans said, noting she has attended multiple events with the county executive as she advocates for improving public safety, education and economic conditions.

Ms. Alsobrooks called Ms. Evans one of her heroes.

“She decided she’s literally going to change the world as a result of her son’s death,” she said. “The pain that Tiffani endured is one that should have never happened.”

Ms. Alsobrooks pledged that if she’s elected to the Senate she won’t back down from holding the gun manufacturers accountable.

“I’ll pass gun legislation, including universal background checks, a ban on military-style assault weapons and combating illegal firearms,” she said. Ms. Harris also endorsed those policies. 

Democrats cannot accomplish those goals without keeping the Senate majority, Ms. Alsobrooks said. “It has become the case that the path to the majority runs through Maryland.”

Senate Republicans need to flip two seats in November to take the majority next Congress. The Maryland seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin is one they know is a reach, given it is a reliably blue state. But Republicans believe they have a shot at beating Ms. Alsobrooks with former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, who has shown success in his two previous statewide campaigns.

In addition to touting Ms. Alsobrooks’ campaign, Ms. Harris urged the activists to elect President Biden and her to a second term in the White House, arguing “the choice in November is clear.”

“Whereas President Biden and I stood up to the NRA and the gun lobby, Donald Trump bowed down,” the vice president said. 

Mr. Trump said he would take action in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, “and then he folded,” Ms. Harris said. “He failed to stand up to the gun lobby. He opposed reasonable gun safety reforms, and he cut funding to gun violence prevention.”

She touted the bipartisan gun safety law that she and Mr. Biden negotiated with Congress, recalling a meeting with Democrats and Republicans at the White House where Mr. Biden appealed to the lawmakers’ humanity.

“He simply refused to take no for an answer,” Ms. Harris said. “And it is as a result that I am proud to report that we’ve passed the first major gun safety law in over 30 years.”

Ms. Harris said she is proud that the law closed loopholes in gun laws that allowed gun sales outside of a traditional store to skirt background checks and guns to be sold to convicted domestic abusers. Mr. Trump, she said, would repeal that law and veto any legislation to create new gun safety laws.

“A second Trump term would be even worse” than the first, Ms. Harris said.

Top Maryland Democratic politicians attended and spoke at the rally, including Gov. Wes Moore, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, U.S. Sen Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Glenn Ivey.

Mr. Moore and Mr. Van Hollen spoke about Ms. Alsobrooks’ Republican opponent. Mr. Van Hollen noted that Mr. Hogan was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in his campaign for governor.

“I know he goes around saying that there are lots of differences between him and Donald Trump, but when it comes to this issue, the only difference is Donald Trump got an A and Larry Hogan got an A minus from the NRA,” Mr. Van Hollen said. 

Without naming Mr. Hogan directly, Mr. Moore spoke about his predecessor, saying over the eight years of the previous administration the homicide rate in Maryland nearly doubled and the non-fatal shooting rate in Maryland did double. 

“During that time period, we saw a general assembly that was introducing legislation that could do things like making sure we’re forcing background checks … banning ghost guns,” Mr. Moore said. “And every single time that those bills made it to the second floor, made it to the governor’s desk, they were met with veto.”

Seemingly speaking to Mr. Hogan, again without naming him, Mr. Moore added: “You don’t have the luxury to turn around and pretend like those eight years didn’t happen. You don’t have the luxury to turn around and act like those eight years you did all you could, because you didn’t.”

Mr. Hogan’s campaign issued a statement accusing Ms. Alsobrooks of “offering more platitudes” instead of addressing skyrocketing crime in her county. It noted that homicides are up 50% and violent crime has increased by more than 30% in Prince George’s County while declining in other parts of the state. 

“Governor Hogan has put forward a plan to address this out-of-control crime wave by funding law enforcement, taking repeat violent criminals off the streets, and getting guns out of the hands of violent criminals and the mentally ill — and Angela Alsobrooks has not,” the Hogan campaign said.  

Other rally speakers, which also included a few of the activists, argued that Ms. Alsobrooks is the only candidate in the race who will fight for legislation to address gun violence and that her election would help contribute to a Democratic majority that would do the same.

“We need a majority in the United States Senate and the United States House who are going to be willing to pass laws to get weapons of war, semiautomatic weapons, off our streets and out of our neighborhoods,” Mr. Van Hollen said.

While Maryland has good gun safety laws, it “is not an island,” he said. “The reality is that over 50% of gun crimes committed in Maryland come from guns from outside the state of Maryland.”

The rally was the first event Ms. Harris held in Maryland this year, the 19th state she has visited in her 2024 travels, according to a Biden-Harris campaign official. 

Later Friday, Ms. Harris was set to join a Students For Biden call to discuss mobilizing young votes around gun violence prevention, the official said.