U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th) has already spent more than $4.7 million on his campaign for U.S. Senate — about half of it on cable TV ads and other significant sums on digital advertising and slick campaign mailers.
Trone’s expenditures in the early weeks of the 2024 open-seat Senate race dwarf the spending of his chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando, and have been fueled largely by his own fortune. Trone, the co-founder of Total Wine & More, a national liquor store chain, is one of the richest members of Congress.
The latest fundraising and spending totals of the Senate candidates and candidates for Maryland’s eight U.S. House seats were made public Saturday in campaign finance reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission. The reports cover all of the candidates’ financial activities from April 1 to June 30. Maryland’s Senate race began in earnest in early May, after U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D) announced he would not seek a fourth term.
In all, the Trone campaign reported taking in $9,833,793 in the second quarter of the year — $9,725,000 via a loan from the candidate. The lion’s share of the $108,000 in contributions Trone received, $73,950, were funneled to the campaign by AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby. The campaign said 90% of its contributions were from Maryland.
But Trone’s current bottom line is almost immaterial: He has told associates he may be willing to spend upwards of $40 million of his own money on the Senate race. That’s a daunting prospect for his opponents.
Alsobrooks, as she announced earlier this month, reported $1,730,019 in contributions since becoming a Senate candidate. She spent $395,701 and finished June with $1,334,318 on hand.
In its announcement on its fundraising earlier this month, the Alsobrooks campaign said 76% of her contributions came from Maryland. The campaign’s largest single expenditure, about $90,000, went to digital advertising.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters
