(WASHINGTON)–The two leading Democratic primary candidates for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District are using millions of their own dollars to finance their campaigns.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney, has personally funded more than half of the $1.3 million she has raised so far. Her lead challenger, former U.S. Rep. David Trone, has contributed $5.4 million of his $6 million campaign total, according to campaign finance records from the end of December.
“Self-funded campaigns are part of this ecosystem of unlimited big money,” said Marina Pino, a Brennan Center for Justice expert on money in politics. “And as the cost of running for office continues to rise … there are more candidates with access to wealth and wealthy networks throwing their hat into the ring.”
When Trone, the founder of the alcohol retailer Total Wine & More, won his first House election in 2018, he had contributed almost $18 million to his campaign.
Trone decided not to run for reelection in 2024, opting to run for Maryland’s open Senate seat instead. He lent his campaign more than $62 million and lost to Angela Alsobrooks.
McClain Delaney, whose husband, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney, is the founder and chairman of Forbright Bank, spent nearly $4 million in 2024 in her campaign to replace him – a campaign Trone endorsed.
“Trone’s attempt to claw back the seat he abandoned isn’t a campaign – it’s a self-funded vanity project,” said McClain Delaney’s campaign manager Nick London in a statement to Capital News Service.
On the other hand, Trone’s campaign deputy communications director, Gaby Krevat, said in a statement to CNS that the fact his campaign is almost entirely self-funded should be attractive to voters.
“Congressman Trone has never taken a dime from corporate PACs or lobbyists. Not once,” Krevat said. “When he was in Congress, the only people he answered to were families in the 6th District, never private interests or big donors. Our opponent, on the other hand, has taken money from big pharma, defense and payday predatory loan companies.”
Pino said some voters may trust self-funded candidates more, but there are still possible worries.
“People may sometimes think that self-funding is good because these candidates can’t be bribed with donations and a campaign cycle from wealthy or special interests, but often self-funded candidates may already be bought by the industry that made them rich to begin with,” Pino said.
Also, she said having little need for financial support from their constituents could be concerning.
“If you consider political giving to be a form of engagement, and the wealthy self-funders are choosing to almost entirely fund their campaign with their own money, it could make a constituent question how willing they’re going to be to engage with them going forward,” Pino said.
The candidates have focused on framing themselves as the ideal candidate to stand against President Donald Trump.
“We can’t have any Democrats in Congress voting with Trump,” Trone said in a December video announcing his campaign.
The congresswoman was one of 46 Democrats in the House and the only Democrat in the Maryland delegation to support the Laken Riley Act, requiring the Department of Homeland Security to detain immigrants who commit burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
McClain Delaney later disavowed her own vote in an interview with The Baltimore Banner after Trone announced his candidacy in December. Since then, she has frequently spoken against the president, especially in terms of immigration policy.
McClain Delaney was the first member of the Maryland delegation to visit and condemn the Baltimore ICE detention center after leaked social media footage showed inhumane conditions there. She went on to support the state’s efforts to thwart a new center in Washington County located in her district.
Her campaign had similar criticisms of Trone’s previous votes, including his support for the 2019 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act.
“Unlike Trone – who voted to fund the incarceration machine that is ICE – Congresswoman McClain Delaney has never funded ICE a penny, which is one reason she’s earned the support of Gov. Wes Moore, Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, Rep. Jamie Raskin and the entire Maryland federal delegation,” London said.
Her endorsers have also criticized Trone for running against her and spending large amounts of money against a Democrat instead of donating to campaigns in races that could flip the House to a Democratic majority.
“Every single seat matters,” Maryland state Sen. Cheryl Kagan, D-Montgomery, told Politico. “It is inexcusable that he is wasting, that he has decided to spend his time and money attacking a fellow Democrat rather than a Republican.”
There are 33 competitive House seats in the 2024 midterm elections, which will affect party control of the chamber, according to Swing Left, a Democratic grassroots group. The organization does not identify Maryland’s 6th District as one of the 14 that Democrats could lose.
Trone’s campaign representative said democracy should not be about “shielding incumbents.”
“Marylanders are fed up, and they want a fighter to stand up to Trump,” Krevat said. “That’s why Congressman Trone is running.”