I'm running to become Maryland's next US senator. There are 'no days off,' but it's critical for me to understand the voters I hope to represent.

• Angela Alsobrooks is the Democratic nominee for Maryland's open Senate seat.
• She serves as a countywide official, but had to campaign hard across the state to raise her name ID.
• Alsobrooks told BI she was "ecstatic" after winning a primary race where she was vastly outspent.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George's County, Maryland, who won the Democratic nomination for the state's open Senate seat. In the May primary, she defeated Rep. David Trone, who self-funded his campaign to the tune of over $60 million. Alsobrooks will face former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in one of the most closely-watched races of the general election. If elected, she would become Maryland's first Black senator and only the second woman to represent the state in the upper chamber. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

By 8 a.m., I've probably already done four or five times things every day. The morning starts early, but I'm still the county executive, which means that the days are always really busy. I wake up at 5:30 a.m. or so each day, and I'm done each night by about 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., and we work seven days a week.

I think this Senate campaign is the first time I've experienced anything where there are no days off. I literally have not had a single day off in at least six months or so.

'You can't represent people you don't know'

As a first-time statewide candidate, it took a lot of effort to really raise my name recognition. And again, the model that we used was person-to-person contact. I'm still fortunate to have so many grassroots supporters who helped me meet people, who invited me into their homes and backyards, who invited me to their coffee shops, and who hosted me at their businesses. That's really the way that we did it.

I often say that you can't represent people you don't know or understand. It's a true benefit to step into someone's neighborhood or go to a house of faith and speak with people. It really helps you to address issues down the line. This is great preparation for the job of being a US senator.

With undecided voters, I always start by listening. I will often ask, "Well, what's most important to you?" And I think it's important that I address the person and interact with them from their perspective. There's often a reason why a person is disconnected or undecided, so the best thing to do is to first ask questions. "What do you care about? What do you want me to know? What's the issue that's most important to you?" That gives me a way to address it.

Being on the campaign trail requires discipline

I've been very disciplined about exercise as I've been campaigning. I think exercise is really important, even during the mornings where I have to kind of talk myself into it. I work out almost every day.

I stay on a pretty regular schedule of eating lunch and a little something for dinner. I try to eat healthy food and get sleep at night — I go to bed at a pretty good hour. So that means on most days, I don't have as much time for leisurely things.

But I'm convinced that it's worth it to have the opportunity to represent people in a way that I think will change their lives.

It's what I've seen from my parents.

My father used to go to work in the middle of the night as a newspaper distributor for The Washington Post. We'd wake up at midnight or so to go pick up his papers, put them in the truck, and we'd be out until two and three o'clock in the morning delivering those papers. And when my father would come home from that route, he'd change into a suit and go sell insurance and cars.

Voter interactions 'inspire me to keep going'

I was traveling to the Eastern Shore to campaign one weekend. We stopped at a deli and there was a woman employed there named Anita. She took our sandwich orders, and I started explaining to her: "I'm here and I'm campaigning. I'm running for US Senate." And she literally started jumping up and down. She hugged me. We took pictures. She was so happy and wished me well.

If Anita can still be optimistic about the future and if she believes that representation matters to her and to so many others, it just continues to inspire me to keep going.

My supporters didn't waver when I was vastly outspent in the primary

It was a really exciting primary result. I was ecstatic, and it was so beautiful because so many people supported me even when it didn't look so great. Those people saw the same newspaper reports that I saw about polls and where we stood in the race. And to be honest with you, my supporters never backed down. Even when it looked like we weren't going to make it, it made all of us work hard.

We have a lot of younger staffers, so for them, the primary was their first campaign. And trust me, they worked as hard as me. They are there first thing in the morning, late at night, and on the weekends. I felt like the people won that primary. It wasn't just about me. Even when it looked like we were being drowned out by a certain amount of money, people still showed up and they made a difference.