Pour One Out for David Trone

David Trone is the co-founder of Total Wine & More, which is basically a wine supermarket. It was a classic American business success story: Trone opened one store with his brother in 1991 and now it is a chain of 250 stores, making himself extremely wealthy along the way. He was able to do so despite steady harassment, especially in the earlier years of the business, from government authorities hostile to someone shaking up the alcohol business with low prices. He had it made: a $3 billion privately held business selling wine. What a life!

But then he decided he really, really needed to be in the House of Representatives. Despite his experience on the receiving end of big government as a businessman, he would run as a Democrat in Maryland.

Being a Democrat in Maryland is pretty nice, and being a Democrat in Maryland with a lot of money is even nicer. So he figured he’d buy himself a House seat. In 2016, he ran for Congress in Maryland’s eighth district. It’s a safe Democratic seat in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, so the only race that matters is the Democratic primary. Incumbent Chris Van Hollen was running for the Senate instead, so it was an open seat. Trone spent $13 million of his own money in the primary, blanketing the airwaves in television and radio advertisements.

And it got him 27 percent of the vote. Jamie Raskin won the multi-way race with 34 percent. Trone spent $13 million for 35,400 votes. In a primary. That he lost.

But David Trone really, really needed to be in the House of Representatives. So in 2018, he ran for the Democratic nomination in Maryland’s sixth district. It was also a safe Democratic district and the seat was open. This time, he spent $12 million of his own money in the primary. And this time the voters relented and he won with 40 percent of the vote. He cruised to victory in the general and finally achieved his dream, at a cost of about three years of his life and $25 million: He was now Representative David Trone.

Then, the day after Election Day 2018, the courts struck down the map of Maryland’s sixth district as an unconstitutional gerrymander. Maryland would have to redraw the map before the 2020 election to make it less lopsided in favor of Democrats. Trone now had to compete in closer elections, but at least he had incumbency advantage, and he won reelection in 2020 and, by a lesser margin, in 2022.

Senator Ben Cardin announced he would not be running for reelection in 2024. Representative David Trone decided he really, really needed to be in the Senate. So he announced his candidacy, again likely needing to win only the Democratic primary in a heavily blue state, though former governor Larry Hogan might turn out to be formidable Republican opponent. In any event, Trone spent $62 million of his own money on the primary. His Democratic opponent was Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. Trone outspent Alsobrooks on advertising by more than 10–1, $47.5 million to $4 million.

And Trone lost. Alsobrooks won a comfortable majority in the primary and will be the Democratic nominee against Hogan in November.

The Washington Post summarizes Trone’s self-funding:

• $13 million on the House primary in 2016
• $17 million on the House primary and general in 2018
• $2 million on the House primary and general in 2020
• $13 million on the House primary and general in 2022
• $62 million on the Senate primary in 2024
• TOTAL: $107 million

He gave up his life as the wealthy owner of a chain of wine stores to spend $107 million of his own money, and all he got was: three terms in the House of Representatives, the all-time record for most money spent self-funding a losing House primary campaign, and the all-time record for most money spent self-funding a losing Senate primary campaign. Pour one out for David Trone.