“He was the voice of the people,” said Alexander Williams Jr., a retired U.S. District Court judge and former county state’s attorney who helped with Monday’s arrangements. “He carried a lot of our issues and concerns to Annapolis, and he interacted with other elected officials to bring back the goods and the bacon here in Prince George’s County.”

On July 31, 2023, Prince George's honored the late Tommie Broadwater Jr., the first Black state senator and power broker from Prince George’s, at the county administration building located in Upper Marlboro, MD. Family members, friends and current and past county leaders stopped by to pay their respects ahead of a public funeral on Tuesday. Williams said he was heartened to see what he estimated to be hundreds of people pass before the casket, which was draped with a Maryland flag.

According to the Washington Post, his friendship with Williams existed for decades. When Judge Williams ran for office in the 1980s, Broadwater offered him advice and later assisted Williams, as a newly-appointed attorney, in gaining clients during his time as a bondsman.