This incumbent will never have to worry about money for the rest of his career, as he is very wealthy. However, wealth cannot protect you from losing your seat if the opposition is more motivated. We need to make sure that our side is equally motivated to win every potentially close race. That is why Majority Savers is heading to Maryland’s 6th district to profile Rep. David Trone, who will be in a political dogfight in 2022.
If you want to find my previous entries in this series, I recommend following me or searching for #MajoritySavers as a tag! Majority Savers is also a group now, thanks to 2thanks!
David Trone for Maryland-6
Donate | Volunteer | Campaign | Twitter
Candidate Background
Rep. David Trone has had a long and interesting life, of which I have included the highlights. Here is where you can go to learn more about him.
- Trone graduated with an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. This was a result of helping run a small soda and beer store owned by his mother when he was a youth in Pennsylvania.
- He saw an opportunity in Pennsylvania to run a beer and wine chain, which regulations made difficult to do at the time. He relied on family, friends, and stores outside the state to run a profitable operation.
- Before running for Congress, his spirits empire became the largest privately owned operation in America, known as Total Wine & More. He had to step down as CEO in 2016 in order to prevent conflicts of interest
- He has many philanthropic ventures, and has been a fundraiser for the Democratic Party for the past couple of decades. He was able to drop $13 million on his first bid for Congress in 2016, which was unsuccessful.
Signature Issues
Rep. Trone is part of the New Democratic Coalition, which means that he is more of a pragmatic liberal to a moderate in governance. This should help him in a competitive district, of which this is his first serious general election race ever.
Trone has a DW Nominate score of -0.271, which is more liberal than 57% of the entire membership of the House, while also being 83% more moderate than the Democratic caucus of the House. He votes on Joe Biden’s position on the issues nearly 100% of the time.
Health Care and Abortion: As a former CEO, Trone knows that businesses cannot fully shoulder the burden of health care. He is for a strong public option for the ACA, Medicaid expansion, and also lowering the Medicare age to 55 gradually. As a representative from an abortion safe state, Trone will also work to codify Roe into law and protect abortion access where possible.
Veterans Issues: Trone’s father was a veteran of the Navy during WW2, so treatment of veterans is sensitive for him. He supports a modern GI Bill, as well as reducing homelessness and mental health crises amongst the veterans community. He helped usher through the toxic burn pit legislation that is now law thanks to also passing through the Senate and getting Joe Biden’s signature.
Gun Safety: Trone respects the 2nd amendment, but he also knows that the phrase “well regulated” is included. He pushes for extensive background checks, closing of loopholes including the boyfriend loophole, and the outright ban of assault rifles and bump stocks. He supported the first gun safety legislation that passed Congress in 30 years recently.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 53.6%, TFG (R-inc) 43.8%
2020 House: David Trone (D-inc) 58.8%, Neil Parrott (R) 39.2%
2022 Race Rating: Leans Democratic
2022 PVI: D+2
For a very long time, Maryland’s 6th district was uncompetitive. It combined the Maryland panhandle with Carroll County, both of which are extremely red and downright hostile to the Democratic Party. During those lean times, weirdo Rep. Roscoe Bartlett was the incumbent member of Congress from the district. He never faced a close race…
That is, until in 2012, when he was sharply defeated by Rep. John Delaney. Maryland mapmakers created a grotesque gerrymander with the express purpose of adding another Democratic seat to Maryland’s delegation. Delaney nearly lost during the 2014 red wave, but he faced no serious races after that. So, how did Rep. David Trone come to represent this district?
It started with a quixotic run for President by Rep. Delaney. He abandoned this district in 2018 to try and get to the White House (he obviously fell laughably short). Rep. David Trone tried to win the 8th district two years prior, but failed after immolating $13 million of his own money on fire. He learned that his wealth combined with donor enthusiasm was the ticket, and he won the 2018 primary to represent this seat in Congress.
Political Tour of the District
The original Congressional map for Maryland was another grotesque affair until the State Supreme Court stepped in. That court slapped down the grotesque map and lawmakers passed the compromise map that created a swing district for Maryland’s 6th district. Trone will be in for a tough race this time around.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 6th district.
- Montgomery County: This is the Democratic anchor for the entire district, and the area where the State Supreme Court excised most of the precincts. Trone will have to get maximum turnout from this county to offset other portions of the district that are more hostile.
- Frederick and Hagerstown: These cities are the swing areas of the district, and it is important that Trone maintain the new found Biden margins in both of these cities. I fear that a small swing back to traditional voting patterns in these cities will doom him.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Rural Frederick and Washington County: Once you get outside of the cities mentioned above, the pickings get slim. Trone will have to limit the losses as best as he can in the rest of the precincts in these counties as to not get overwhelmed by red votes elsewhere.
- Maryland Panhandle: As a part of Appalachia, the Maryland panhandle abandoned the Democratic Party long ago, except for some stray precincts near the towns of Cumberland and Frostburg. Trone’s best bet is to hope for lower turnout in these areas or he could be in trouble.
Activism — Help How You Can!
This is one race where I am not keeping track of donations, because Rep. David Trone largely finances his own races all on his own. He can inject millions into his own campaign without a second thought, and that ability is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because it is one less race we have to fund. It is a curse because donations are a way to track candidate enthusiasm and self-funding can mask some flaws.
What I do know is that the race should be competitive under the new lines, and that dark money, if it senses an opening, will go on the attack here. I cannot in good conscience urge a donation to Trone when he is so wealthy, but I will provide a link anyways just in case you wish to donate.
DONATE TO REP. DAVID TRONE HERE
What Trone needs much more urgently is volunteers for his campaign. He needs those canvassers, callers, voter database updaters, and other positions filled because he is in a generally uncompetitive state in Maryland. https://www.davidtrone.com/ is his campaign website, and from there you can volunteer for his campaign, especially if you live in the DC Metro area.
His campaign site doesn’t include social media links, so I had to go hunt for his Twitter account. He actually has over 9k followers on his Twitter account, likely as a combination of former CEO and as a member of Congress.
I chose not to find any other social media, but they must exist. Feel free to add other links to his campaign as well.
This is the 38th Majority Savers article that I have written, and I am hopefully only just getting started. I have been trying to be geographically diverse with my selections off of my competitive races list. I’ve almost burned through my “original list”, which means that races with less at risk incumbents or races that may be offensive opportunities are what is left. Thanks for your continued support in making this possible!
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David Trone for Maryland-6