Total Wine founder David Trone loses costly Maryland primary comeback bid

Former Rep. David Trone, D-Md., fell short in his bid to return to Congress after pouring millions of his personal fortune into a race to unseat an incumbent Democrat.

Rep. April McClain Delaney, D-Md., defeated Trone in a frustrating primary battle Tuesday for the gerrymandered House seat in Western Maryland, according to The Associated Press.

The intra-party contest was one of the costliest primaries of the 2026 cycle; Between both candidates, more than $32 million was spent to support their respective campaigns, a significant fortune.

It’s unclear whether the total spending will eclipse the Kentucky primary, which recently ended with the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who won the nation’s most expensive House primary.

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Trone, the billionaire founder of alcohol retailer Total Wine & More, has invested more than $25 million of his fortune in racing. Delaney, a freshman lawmaker serving in the Biden administration, spent at least $7 million of his own money to fend off Trone’s primary challenge during his second term in the House.

He previously served as a political appointee at the Commerce Department in the Biden administration.

Trone harshly criticized Delaney for voting for the GOP-authored Laken Riley Act in early 2025, even though both candidates have few policy differences. Delaney later said he regretted supporting legislation requiring the detention of illegal immigrants accused or convicted of certain crimes.

Delaney also slammed Trone for touting support from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an ad focused on defending abortion rights despite not receiving official endorsement.

Trone, who represented the district for three terms, had previously bankrolled his unsuccessful 2024 Senate bid with more than $60 million of his fortune, losing to now-Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md. He specifically supported Delaney’s replacement in Congress.

Former Rep. David Trone, D-Md. and Rep. April McClain Delaney, D-Md. The initial battle between the two has turned sharply negative and could break spending records. (JP Yim/Getty Images for New York Hilton Midtown; Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for MISTR, Free Online PrEP)

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Maryland’s Democratic establishment rallied around Delaney’s campaign in a remarkable show of unity against Trone’s insurgent campaign. Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. and former House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., have endorsed Delaney’s re-election campaign.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DY, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California, also supported Delaney’s campaign.

Trone, meanwhile, touted the support of the state’s largest teachers union.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. and Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va. and April McClain Delaney, D-Md., attend a press conference with Maryland and Virginia Congressional Democrats across from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Oct. 14, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

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Neither Delaney nor Trone reside in the district, which stretches from the rural, Republican-leaning northwest corner of the state to the predominantly Democratic and suburban Montgomery and Frederick counties. Both Democrats live in the affluent Potomac suburb near Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump is within six points of winning the Democratic-leaning district in 2024, but national Republicans do not see the seat as the best buying opportunity.

Delaney’s husband, John Delaney, represented the seat from 2013 to 2019 before launching an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020.