The Democratic primary for Maryland's open 6th District doubled on Wednesday, when wealthy businessman David Trone and state Sen. Roger Manno each announced that they would run. State Del. Aruna Miller and state House Majority Leader Bill Frick had been raising money for months while incumbent John Delaney flirted with leaving the House to run for another office, and they both jumped in days after Delaney announced he was retiring to run for president. Clinton carried this seat, which includes a large portion of suburban D.C.'s Montgomery County, 55-40.
Last year, Trone ran for the neighboring 8th District and lost the primary 34-27 to then-state Sen. Jamie Raskin, who won in November. However, Trone's campaign was anything but uneventful. Trone, who co-founded the liquor store chain Total Wine & More, spent more than $13 million of his own money, making him the top-self funder in a House race even adjusting for inflation. Trone's bid for the 8th began with him defending the $150,000 he has donated to Republican candidates over the years, with Trone declaring that, while he disagrees with those Republicans "on everything social and economic,” “I sign my checks to buy access."
Trone ran ad after ad during his four months in the race, and while most of his commercials were pretty typical candidate-stuff, we'll always remember one truly bizarre spot that just featured him talking about his dogs. The 6th District and the 8th are both mostly located in the D.C. media market, so primary voters here got to see the full onslaught of Trone's ads last year even though they couldn't vote for him at the time.