{"id":2222521,"date":"2024-04-16T16:19:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T20:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/david-trone-has-poured-a-record-breaking-42-million-into-his-senate-campaign\/"},"modified":"2024-04-16T16:21:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T20:21:20","slug":"david-trone-has-poured-a-record-breaking-42-million-into-his-senate-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/david-trone-has-poured-a-record-breaking-42-million-into-his-senate-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"David Trone invested a groundbreaking $42 million in his Senate campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdavid-trone-has-poured-a-record-breaking-42-million-into-his-senate-campaign%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2222521&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. David Trone made history on Tuesday by becoming the \u200blargest self-funder in Senate primary history. Trone, a co-owner of Total Wine\u200c &#038; More, has loaned $41.7\u200c million to his campaign for Maryland&#8217;s open Senate seat since March 2023. Despite\u2063 his substantial personal investment, Trone struggles to attract contributions from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/unreliability-of-u-s-electric-grid-increasingly-on-display\/\" title=\"Unreliability Of U.S. Electric Grid Increasingly On Display\">traditional sources<\/a>, indicating challenges connecting with \u200bthe\u2062 Democratic base.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tRep. David Trone (X\/@davidjtrone)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Rep. David Trone (D., Md.) made history Tuesday, becoming the largest self-funder in Senate primary history.<\/p>\n<p>Trone, the co-owner of the multibillion-dollar liquor chain Total Wine &#038; More, has loaned $41.7 million to his campaign for Maryland\u2019s open Senate seat since launching his run in March 2023, Federal Election Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/986\/202404159632778986\/202404159632778986.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filings<\/a> show. The Maryland Democrat\u2019s personal investment into his campaign far exceeds all prior Senate primary candidates, including the previous record holder, Illinois Democrat Blair Hull, who spent $29.6 million on his failed 2004 Senate primary bid.<\/p>\n<p>Though Trone can depend on the seemingly unending funds from his Total Wine wealth to fuel his Senate campaign, his failure to attract contributors from traditional sources exposes underlying cracks in his ability to engage with the Democratic base. He has raised just $640,000 from contributors other than himself, a figure that includes a paltry $105,000 from grassroots, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-crowd-cheers-as-desantis-torches-democrat-challenger\/\" title=\"WATCH: Crowd Cheers As DeSantis Torches Democrat Challenger\">small-dollar donors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Trone\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hochul-holds-double-digit-lead-over-ny-attorney-general-in-gubernatorial-race-poll-shows\/\" title=\"Hochul Holds Double-Digit Lead Over NY Attorney General In Gubernatorial Race, Poll Shows\">top primary challenger<\/a>, Prince George\u2019s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, has raked in $6.2 million from outside contributors. A <em>Baltimore Sun<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2024\/04\/16\/poll-trone-alsobrooks-senate-hogan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poll<\/a> Tuesday shows Trone leading the field with 48 percent support among Democratic primary voters, while Alsobrooks trails behind with 29 percent support. Maryland\u2019s primary election will be held May 14.<\/p>\n<p>The same poll shows former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the expected Republican nominee for the state\u2019s open Senate seat, beating both Trone and Alsobrooks in the general election. Maryland last elected a Republican senator in 1980.<\/p>\n<p>Among Trone\u2019s few outside contributors are the top executives of Southern Glazer\u2019s Wine &#038; Spirits, who have collectively <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/receipts\/?data_type=processed&#038;committee_id=C00653196&#038;contributor_employer=southern+glazer&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">donated<\/a> $33,000. A Florida-based alcohol distributor with close ties to Total Wine, Southern Glazer\u2019s is currently under an antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly providing preferential pricing to certain large retailers such as Total Wine.<\/p>\n<p>The FTC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2023\/10\/ftc-takes-total-wine-federal-court-enforce-compliance-antitrust-civil-investigative-demand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sued<\/a> Total Wine as part of its investigation in October, alleging in court filings that Trone\u2019s company &#8220;categorically refused&#8221; to search its internal files for information related to its inquiry into Southern Glazer\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Trone said he relinquished day-to-day control over Total Wine after he won his first term in the House in 2018. But his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ron-wydens-wife-raked-in-ppp-loans-while-laying-off-hundreds\/\" title=\"Ron Wyden\u2019s Wife Raked in PPP Loans While Laying Off Hundreds\">financial disclosures suggest<\/a> otherwise. Trone reported in his <a href=\"https:\/\/disclosures-clerk.house.gov\/public_disc\/financial-pdfs\/2022\/10052228.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022 disclosure<\/a> that he serves as a director or manager of Total Wine and several of its subsidiaries.\t<\/p>\n<p>Trone has had mixed results using his Total Wine wealth to fuel his political aspirations, and he has always struggled to garner significant financial support. He poured $13.4 million into his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/elections-overview\/top-self-funders?cycle=2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failed<\/a> 2016 House primary campaign against Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) after raising less than $7,000 from grassroots supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, in 2018, Trone won his seat in the House after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/elections-overview\/top-self-funders?cycle=2018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dumping <\/a>another $17.9 million into his campaign. Trone raised $550,000 from outside contributors during that contest.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Trone, a Democratic Representative from Maryland, set a new record by being the top self-funder in Senate primary history. Trone, the co-owner of Total Wine &amp; More, loaned $41.7 million to his campaign for Maryland&#8217;s Senate seat since starting his run in March 2023, as per Federal Election Commission records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":2222522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GJhxvIFW8AArY3Y_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2222521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GJhxvIFW8AArY3Y_736x514.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2222521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2222522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2222521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2222521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2222521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}