Trump, Immigration, And Total Wine: The House Primary Pitting Maryland Democrats Against One Another

A Maryland Democrat’s attempt at a political comeback may well turn an otherwise staid contest for a blue-leaning seat into one of the most expensive House elections of the year — all for a district that likely won’t make a difference in determining the chamber's majority.

Democrats throughout the state are divided over former Rep. David Trone’s endeavor to oust his successor, Rep. April McClain Delaney, for a seat he left to run for the Senate in 2024.

Delaney's supporters are furious that he’s challenging a sitting Democrat he once backed and likening him to President Donald Trump, while his backers have pilloried her for voting for a GOP-backed bill — fueling a primary fight between two onetime allies that’s already become personal.

“Every single seat matters,” said state Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a onetime Trone supporter who is backing Delaney. “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.”

Trone is far from the only Democrat challenging an incumbent this cycle. But while other primaries across the country are being fought on ideological or generational lines, this one is being waged on differences that are less stark. The race, some Maryland insiders say privately, is less about the future of the party and more of a personal clash between two wealthy politicians.

In the meantime, major Maryland Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller have no plans to change their endorsements of Delaney. And every Democrat in the state congressional delegation endorsed her when she launched her reelection campaign back in October.

But Trone insists his reasons for getting back into the saddle are legitimate.

“I’m doing this because the moment we’re living in demands it,” Trone said in a statement. “Trump is back in the White House, and the threat to our democracy, our freedoms, and working families is real and urgent. And I’m running because Maryland’s Sixth District deserves a Democrat who won’t vote to support Trump’s inhumane immigration policies.”

His backers point to Delaney’s vote in support of the Laken Riley Act, a key cog in Trump’s deportation agenda, which they say has proven deeply unpopular among liberal voters throughout the 6th District. Delaney was also the lone Maryland Democrat to vote for two more immigration bills criticized by the Trone camp.

“That was a big shock to me,” Yewande Oladeinde, a Trone backer and former chair of the Frederick County Immigrant Affairs Commission, said of Delaney’s vote on the Laken Riley Act. “Not just to me but also to many others in the immigrant community.”

The seat, which sprawls along the state’s northwest, has been competitive in the past. Former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan carried Frederick, Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties, all represented by the district, in 2024 while still losing to now-Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks statewide. Former Vice President Kamala Harris only carried the district by 6 points in her presidential bid that year.

Congressional Republicans have competed for the district in the past, but with the midterm environment favoring Democrats, it is not expected to be among either party’s top priority.

Despite that, it could end up as one of the country’s most expensive races, given the vast personal wealth of the two contenders.

Trone is the co-founder of Total Wine & More, a massive American alcohol retailer with stores across 30 states and D.C., which made him among the richest men in recent memory to walk the halls of Congress.

His first attempt at national politics saw Trone shell out more than $13 million in a 2016 Democratic primary loss to now-Rep. Jamie Raskin in Maryland’s open 8th District. Two years later, he won the 6th District seat, spending $17 million in the process.

But that willingness to break the bank has earned Trone supporters in the Old Line State political scene.

“In my book, that speaks well of David Trone,” said Ana Sol Gutierrez, a former Maryland state delegate who ran against Trone in that 2016 election and is now backing him. “He has used the money to kind of protect himself from the influence of money.”

But that all paled in comparison to Trone’s outlay in his failed 2024 Senate bid. A $60 million-plus spending blitz wasn’t enough to defeat Alsobrooks in the Democratic primary, which left some bitter feelings in the state.

“If you were going to be wanting to get back into the political side, it would be so much more helpful to all of us if you were to spend some of that $63 million or whatever that figure is going to be on other causes for the Democratic Party,” said Sidney Katz, a longtime councilmember in Montgomery County backing Delaney.

Trone has already given his campaign more than $5 millionin his nascent bid to take down Delaney.

But Trone said his deep pockets make him invulnerable to the kinds of political pressures that underlie most campaigns. “I’m willing to spend whatever it takes to win and do my part to defend our democracy and protect working families,” he said in his statement.

Delaney, too, has ample funds at her disposal. Her husband John Delaney — who was Trone’s predecessor in the 6th District and left to focus on a quixotic 2020 White House bid, spending millions in the process — is the founder and executive chair of Forbright Bank. She spent nearly $4 million of her own money in her winning bid for the 6th District in 2024.

Nick London, Delaney’s campaign manager, said she is ready to spend “what it takes to defeat Trone this time around.”

And Delaney’s taken a harder line against the White House’s immigration stance in recent weeks, signing onto a Democratic push to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and traveling to Minnesota as protests raged in response to the ICE killing of a protester earlier in January.

“Congresswoman McClain Delaney is showing up every day for her constituents and fighting Trump at every turn, which is why Chris Van Hollen, Jamie Raskin, Wes Moore and every Democrat in the Maryland delegation endorsed her over Trone's sad campaign of ego, entitlement and yesterday's status quo politics," London said.

In the meantime, there’s no love lost between the two camps.

“I was at an event tonight where a lot of people know April and Trone and I was amazed how EVERYONE thought @davidjtrone was such a LOSER for running against April,” John Delaney wrote on X in the middle of December. “He has no friends, no life and is desperate for attention. So sad!”