The choice facing voters in this year's Democratic primary election in the city's new 41st District is this: Do they want to advance African-American representation at the expense of influence in Annapolis?

In 20 years, Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman has become one of the most powerful political leaders in Annapolis, with a level of influence rivaled, some say, only by the brashness of her tough, sharp-tongued style.

But African-American political leaders are prepared to lose her to elect a black candidate in the Northwest Baltimore district. Because the district is now 71 percent African-American, black leaders asked Hoffman, who was drawn into the district during this year's redistricting process, to move and seek re-election elsewhere or risk losing her seat in the General Assembly. She refused.

Hoffman, who is white, argues that Baltimore needs her influence in the state Senate, where she chairs the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee, to ensure that the city continues to receive the money it needs for such programs as education, drug treatment and economic development, especially when the city is losing four senators because of major population declines over the past 30 years.

But to African-American political leaders another factor appears to outweigh Hoffman's experience: the longtime under-representation of blacks in the city, state and the nation, which prevented them from assuming positions of power.

As veteran Baltimore Del. Howard P. Rawlings put it, people want representatives who "look like them, smell like them and think like them."

The 62-year-old senator now faces the fight of her political life against Del. Lisa A. Gladden, a 37-year-old one-term African-American delegate who works as a lawyer in the city public defender's office. And the race has the city buzzing over whether the entrenched senator, armed with more than $200,000 in campaign money and a wealth of experience, can defeat a black candidate in an overwhelmingly black district while running against the black political establishment.

Political observers expect a racially polarized election similar to the 1995 mayoral race between incumbent Kurt L. Schmoke and City Council President Mary Pat Clarke, when the vote was split largely along racial lines - signaling an uphill battle for Hoffman.

"It's going to be very difficult, not impossible, for Barbara Hoffman," said Donald F. Norris, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "Is it more important to have a Hoffman in that position and through that position advance the city, or is it more important to elect an African-American?

"This question is nothing unique to African-Americans. That would be said if this were an Irish district, a Polish district, a Jewish district or any other ethnic group."

Hoffman might be helped by a third Senate candidate in the 41st District. Former Del. Frank D. Boston Jr., also an African-American, could take votes away from Gladden. Boston, 63, served in the House of Delegates for 12 years before challenging current 41st District Sen. Clarence W. Blount, who is retiring, in the 1998 election. Blount handily defeated Boston with 68 percent of the primary election vote.

Norris and other political observers see Boston more as a spoiler than a likely winner of the race because he has been out of office for four years, lacks financial support and upset many voters by challenging Blount four years ago. In addition to running against the veteran senator, Boston also challenged Blount's right to run in the district because he wasn't a resident any longer. The court rejected Boston's claim, further eroding his political stature in the district.

"Boston's not a factor anymore; he used to be," said Arthur W. Murphy, a longtime city political operative who has run campaigns in Northwest Baltimore. "He's going to get stomped."

Boston, Gladden and Hoffman are all Democrats. There are no Republican candidates in the 41st District race, so the Democratic primary will determine who goes to Annapolis.

The 41st District covers the northwest corner of Baltimore in a shape like an upside-down "L." Of the 108,521 residents in the district, 81,549, or 75 percent, are eligible to vote, said Karl S. Aro, executive director of the state Department of Legislative Services.

Almost 71 percent of the voting population is African-American, Aro said. The population is well-educated and is a leader in voter turnout among blacks and whites at 70 percent.

That's all a plus for Gladden, Murphy and Norris say, especially if blacks choose to vote along racial lines.

Gladden's challenge is to become known to more than half of the residents who are new to the 41st District.

The new 41st District - redrawn last month by the Maryland Court of Appeals after the court declared Gov. Parris N. Glendening's 2002 redistricting plan unconstitutional - includes 47 percent of the old 41st District from which Gladden was elected to the House of Delegates in 1998, Aro said. More than half of the district has been represented by Hoffman at one time or another over the past 20 years - 36 percent over the past 10 years and 17 percent in the 1980s, Aro said.

Norris said he believes Hoffman will take 95 percent of the white vote, which translates into 30 percent of the total vote. Hoffman then needs 15 percent to 20 percent of the black vote in order to win the race, he said.

"The question is: What kind of cross-over appeal does Hoffman have?" Norris said.

Hoffman said she sees the numbers working in her favor. With more than half of the district familiar with her legislative history, Hoffman said she believes voters will realize that she has played a critical role in bringing millions of dollars to Baltimore and is needed in Annapolis. She said she already represents a mixed-race district.

"I don't get into a race I can't win," Hoffman said. "My daughter was concerned for me. I said, 'Honey, it's not Sept. 11. It's not terrorism. It's politics.'

"I just know that I should go back for the sake of the citizens of Baltimore."

Baltimore is 65 percent African-American. The Baltimore delegation now includes 39 legislators - six of 10 senators are black and 17 of 29 delegates are black. Under the new redistricting plan there will be just six senators altogether and 18 delegates. Black candidates are expected to win at least four of the six Senate seats, and Gladden would make five.

"I hope the voters of the 41st District in general and the African-American voters in particular have the political courage to send an African-American to the Senate," said Kenneth L. Webster of Baltimore, a black former delegate who is now a political consultant.

Rawlings, one of Gladden's most important boosters, said he wanted Hoffman to move to another district to avoid the risk of losing her from the legislature. But he said it should not be assumed that Hoffman's political influence will win her the election.

"None of us is indispensable," said Rawlings, who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the counterpart to Hoffman's Senate committee. He said some city political forces want to retire him from office, even though he also wields power in the legislature.