“My opponent, Anthony G. Brown, is a superb congressman, however he’s by no means tried a felony case in Maryland and he doesn’t have the suitable expertise for this job,” Curran O’Malley mentioned. “I’ll be able to struggle for you on day one.”

Brown is a Harvard-educated lawyer who served eight years as lieutenant governor alongside O’Malley’s husband, former governor Martin O’Malley.

Since 2016, Brown has represented Maryland’s 4th Congressional District, anchored in Prince George’s County. He’s additionally a former army lawyer for the Military — the place he commanded a unit of 80 authorized professionals as a JAG officer, supporting troopers in felony protection, authorized help and client safety issues — and has felony expertise in D.C., together with class-action and different civil expertise.

Whereas Curran O’Malley’s marketing campaign mentioned the advert attracts a transparent distinction between her Maryland-centric expertise and Brown’s political profession, the Brown marketing campaign noticed it as an assault.

“It’s disappointing that former Choose O’Malley has determined to assault Congressman Brown — who has devoted his life to public service and has a transparent file of delivering outcomes,” Brown’s marketing campaign supervisor, Dylan Liau Arant, mentioned in a press release. “The individuals of Maryland deserve higher.”

Curran O’Malley is a former District Court docket choose and prosecutor within the Baltimore space who resigned from the bench earlier than leaping into the race to succeed Lawyer Basic Brian E. Frosh (D), who’s retiring. She’s additionally the daughter of Maryland’s longest-serving lawyer basic, J. Joseph Curran Jr. In her advert, filmed in a courtroom setting, she notes she’s been engaged on felony justice points for 30 years.

The previous allies have battled exterior the highlight educated on the high-stakes, crowded major race for governor as Democrats attempt to take again the manager mansion after two phrases of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. However within the lower-profile lawyer basic’s race, Curran O’Malley and Brown have raised hundreds of thousands and have divided lots of the state’s political leaders and activist teams.

The Democratic major has decided the state’s lawyer basic in each election since 1952. Republicans Jim Shalleck, the previous elections chief in Montgomery County, and Michael Peroutka, a former member of the Anne Arundel County Council, are on their occasion’s major poll. Collectively, they’ve raised a fraction of what the Democrats have hauled in.

The lawyer basic’s workplace is the lawyer for the state authorities and the enforcer of client safety legal guidelines. However with violent crime on the rise in areas throughout the state, felony justice has taken on a outsize function within the marketing campaign.

In the course of the candidates’ lone debate, they every made public security a prime precedence. Curran O’Malley emphasised prosecuting and suing sources of “ghost weapons” — firearms which might be assembled at residence and lack a serial quantity. Brown mentioned his relationships with state lawmakers and expertise with the Basic Meeting make him well-suited to push for more durable legal guidelines relating to weapons.

Till this previous week, no different Democratic candidates for any prime workplace in Maryland had launched an advert instantly focusing on a major opponent this yr. The advert will air in Baltimore and D.C. broadcast and cable markets, the Curran O’Malley marketing campaign mentioned.

A little bit greater than three weeks stay till the July 19 election. Brown has up to now raised more cash than Curran O’Malley, in line with the latest marketing campaign finance reviews launched this month. At that time, Brown had $1.2 million to spend, about $400,000 greater than Curran O’Malley.

Brown’s marketing campaign launched its latest advert final week. It featured Brown bantering playfully together with his spouse, Karmen Walker Brown, about why he deserved her vote.