Government & Politics

Trone pours another $5M into bid to regain 6th Congressional District seat

By

Louis Peck

April 16, 2026 11:34 a.m.

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Former Rep. David Trone of Potomac – co-owner of a nationwide alcohol beverage retail chain—last month put another $5 million from his own pocket into an effort to oust his successor, Rep. April McClain Delaney, also of Potomac in the June 23 Democratic primary election for the 6th Congressional District seat, according to disclosure reports filed late Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission. 

The reports, which covers the first quarter of 2026, showed Trone spending more than $4.35 million during this three-month period. The large majority of that—approximately $2.46 million—appears to have gone into Trone’s saturation TV ad campaign that has been airing on broadcast stations in the Washington, D.C., market. 

Trone’s spending from Jan. 1 to March 31 of this year is more than three times that of McClain Delaney, who reported spending approximately $1.33 million during the same period.  

Since announcing his candidacy in December to retake the 6th District seat—which he held from 2018 until 2024, when he left to make an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate—Trone has spent more than $6.15 million, with all but about $31,000 of this coming out of his own pocket.  McClain Delaney has spent about $1.95 million since the outset of the 2025-2026 election cycle more than a year ago. 

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In contrast to Trone, Delaney, running for re-election to a second term, has relied significantly on outside contributions: She raised $310,000 in the first three months of 2026, and just less than $900,000 since beginning her re-election bid last year.  

At the same time, she also has directed personal assets to her campaign, including $1.5 million at the end of last month that was designated as a loan. That is in addition to $700,000 in personal assets that she placed in the campaign last year.   

By comparison, Trone has put $10.4 million in personal assets into his self-financed candidacy—with $10 million designated as loans and another $400,000 in direct donations. Personal contributions by candidates to their own campaigns are often designated as loans to preserve the option of being repaid through future fundraising—but, in practice, such repayments are rare, and the loans become de facto donations. 

Trone’s personal investment in this campaign puts him on track by Primary Day to exceed the all-time record for a self-financed U.S. House campaign. According to Open Secrets, a Washington-based organization that tracks campaign spending, that record was set in 2018—by Trone himself, who spent $18 million out of his own pocket to win the 6th District seat for the first time. 

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Trone announced late last year that he would seek to reclaim his former seat. He criticized  Delaney for several immigration-related votes early in her term in which she sided with congressional Republicans and the Trump administration.  

In the ensuing months, the contest has been viewed by some in Maryland political circles as something of an extended family feud between wealthy residents of the same affluent community—pitting Trone not only against his successor but also his predecessor: McClain Delaney’s husband, former Rep. John Delaney. 

Their common place of residence—Potomac—lies about 10 miles south of the 6th District, the boundaries of which were redrawn in 2022. The district currently starts in Gaithersburg and takes in a swath of northwest Montgomery County that is home to about a quarter of the county’s voters, before extending 200 miles through four counties to the western edge of the Maryland Panhandle. 

Under the U.S. Constitution, a member of Congress must only reside in the state he or she represents—not in the actual district.  

John Delaney became wealthy through the creation and sale of health care and banking firms before serving in Congress from 2012 to 2018 and later mounting an unsuccessful bid for president in 2020. In recent months, Delaney has taken to social media to blast his wife’s challenger in unvarnished terms. 

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“April will kick this loser’s [backside] Why? Lots of reasons but mostly because she has character and integrity. She is faithful and honest. She serves to help people, not for ego. He has none of those qualities,” Delaney declared in a social media post on X shortly after Trone announced his candidacy. 

A poll commissioned by the McClain Delaney campaign and released earlier this week showed McClain Delaney leading Trone by 49% to 37%, with 14% undecided. The poll of 500 likely 6th District Democratic primary voters by Hart Research Associates has an error margin of 4.5 points. 

The Trone campaign sought to counter this survey by pointing to a recent poll by a newly formed organization, the Public Sentiment Institute, which shows Trone ahead by 51% to 30%. But the small size of the polling sample—154 likely Democratic primary voters—has raised questions about its reliability. 

There is also a Republican primary for that party’s 6th District nomination, with Chris Burnett of Gaithersburg, an attorney and Marine veteran, and perennial candidate Robin Ficker of Boyds as the leading contenders. 

 This story will be updated as more information becomes available. 

Louis Peck, a contributing editor for Bethesda Magazine, can be reached at lou.peck@bethesdamagazine.com.  

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine