By Sophie Foster
Opinion Editor
If you, as a Maryland resident, scroll social media, check your email, or use streaming services, then at this point, you have heard the name David Trone once, twice, or a thousand times this election season.
According to Forbes, thanks to expensive advertising campaigns, this is set to be the most costly American election season to date, amassing an estimated $10.2 billion in spending, which is a 13% increase from the previous cycle. Maryland Democrats vying for a Senate nomination against Republican candidate former Governor Larry Hogan are players in that game of spending, perhaps none so evidently as Rep. Trone.
A wealthy businessman, Rep. Trone, according to Axios, “was elected to the U.S. House in 2018 and has spent heavily in the primary,” making this Democratic primary race “one of the most expensive in the country so far.” 97% of this has come from the Trone campaign. Despite this excessive spending, his top competitor, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, follows him closely in the polls within the 4% margin of error.
This race tightened when Rep. Trone inexplicably employed a racist slur used to caricature Black Americans during a congressional budget meeting in March, according to The Washington Post. This caused a shift in endorsements from his contemporaries toward Alsobrooks, including Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin. For his part, Rep. Trone claims he intended to use the term “bugaboo” and was unaware the misspeak has derogatory connotations.
Despite the recent controversy and various moral standings amongst Democrat Marylanders, it seems this primary will be reduced to one defining question: Can you buy an election win?
According to WUSA9, Federal Election Campaign Finance data indicates that Rep. Trone spent more than $23.1 million in contrast to Alsobrooks’ $2.4 million, making the discrepancy between the two candidates’ spending higher than $20 million. The result is Rep. Trone becoming nearly inescapable on a Maryland IP address — if you are going online in the state, you are seeing his name and face.
This does not necessarily mean he has the Senate seat in the bag before the ballots have even been cast.
Recent history teaches us that money does not always ascertain a victory in an election. In fact, according to WUSA9, self-funded candidates lost heavily in the last election cycle in 2022. All eight candidates who campaigned on their own riches for a Senate seat failed to draw the necessary votes.
“I think Marylanders are really savvy,” Alsobrooks said for WUSA9. “They recognize that you should not be able to buy Senate seat.”
It is presently not clear whether this is true or not, but it is true that, less than a month away from Maryland’s primary election, Rep. Trone maintains a small but not insignificant lead over his top competitor.
Only time — and votes — will tell if this bout of over-advertisement will work out in Trone’s favor or end as nothing more than an embarrassing drain of money.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Photo caption: Rep. David Trone is spending big money on his Senate campaign.