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By population, Maryland is a big state, 18th largest in the country with 6.1 million people.  It is the largest of the five states with 8 Members of Congress. Its population is more than 10 times the population of Wyoming, about 10 times the population of Vermont, and a bit less than 10 times the population of Alaska and North Dakota.  Like Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska and Vermont, Maryland has two Senators.

Maryland’s Republican governor is term limited.  Ten Democrats are running to replace him.  Four Republicans are running as well.  In a March poll, State Comptroller Peter Franchot led with 23%, former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker was second with 15%.  No polls are available for the Republicans, but the popular outgoing Republican Governor endorsed State Commerce Secretary Kelly Schultz.

Two other constitutional officers will be elected as well – State Comptroller and Attorney General.  Two Democrats and a Republican are running for Comptroller. Two Democrats (former Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and former district court judge and former Maryland first lady Katie Curran O’Malley) and two Republicans are running for Attorney General.

Chris Van Hollen, one of Maryland’s US Senators is up for re-election.  He has one primary opponent.  Eight Republicans announced their candidacy.  No one expects Van Holland will have a serious challenge.

A state judge held that Maryland’s redistricting plan violated the state constitution.  Maryland’s outgoing Republican governor negotiated a new plan. With that new plan, three districts are more the D+50, three districts had Democratic leans in the teens, one district shifted from R+8 to R+25, and one district shifted from D+12 to R+1.

MD 01. Incumbent Republican Andy Harris was the beneficiary of the shift from R+8 to R+25.  Democratic challengers former State Delegate Heather Mizeur (Political Note #440) and Political consultant David Harden were affected adversely.

MD 06. Incumbent Democrat David Trone (Political Note #466) was faced with a change from D+12 to R+1.  State Delegate Neil Parrot, Software Engineer Jonathan Jenkins, and Police Officer Bob Poissonnier are the potential beneficiaries.

 

May 10th, 2022         Political Note #465 David Trone Maryland 06

2022                          General Election

In 2016, David Trone was a self-funder running for the open Maryland 08 seat. He came in second in the primary to Jamie Raskin, a Congressman who has become a national figure.

David Trone took lessons from his loss.  In 2018, he ran for MD 06, another open Democratic seat.  This time, he announced early and raised money rather than using his own money exclusively.  He won the primary with 40% of the vote and the general with 57%.  In 2020, he won the election with 59% of the vote.

With the redistricting fix, David Trone is in a new world. The previous MD 06 and the current one began in the west, in the narrow panhandle between West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, southwest and southeast of Harrisburg.  The previous district continued south in a narrow band along the Virginia border reaching well into the Washington DC suburbs.  The newly created district continues along the Virginia border, but less narrowly and not as far south.  The DC suburbs gave the previous district its Democratic lean.  Many of them are now in Jamie Raskin’s MD 08 which changed from D+24 to D+53.

David Trone got himself ready quickly for his new world.  At the start of 2022, he had a lackadaisical $50,000 available for his campaign.  He pumped in some of his own money and restarted his fund raising.  He began April with $2 million.  His most serious Republican opponent, Neil Parrot who he defeated in 2020 by 20 points had $260,000.  David Trone is demonstrating his ability to scramble and how much he wants to continue in his new field.

Before 2016, David Trone was a businessman. Before that, he grew up in a family that had its troubles.  When David Trone was a pre-teen, his dad, a salesman for TWA at a time when TWA was a leader among American airlines, left his job to start a farm.

There are comedies, like the 1947 film, The Egg and I, about people who know nothing about farming trying it out.  Considering how difficult farming is (something I do not know from experience), attempting to farm knowing nothing about it is likely to be a kind of tragedy.  Thomas Trone’s farm failed.  He kept it going as a retreat and events venue, but the site was living on borrowed time and borrowed money. It failed in the 80s when interest rates reached 15% or more.

The marriage failed, too.  David Trone’s mom got the soda and beer store that she had been running.  Helped by David and younger brother Robert, their mom’s store thrived.  They opted for lower prices and greater volume and got it.  They increased the store’s revenue from $300,000 per year to over $2 million.

When they opened a store in Harrisburg, PA, the store became a destination.  David and Robert also went to school – the Wharton School for David, the law school for Robert. Pennsylvania was tough.  The state limited owners of liquor stores to one per person.  When they opened a store in Delaware they learned to lobby.

Delaware changed a law that prohibited liquor wholesalers from offering discounted prices to large scale purchasers. North Carolina and South Carolina, where they opened stores, changed laws that limited the sale of beer with more than 6% alcohol content. Those states also changed laws that prohibited the sale of craft beers and imported beers.  By 2018, there were 193 stores in 24 states.

Before they learned lobbying, they tried to figure out how to do business in Pennsylvania.  Each brother and one of their wives owned a store.  They created a consulting firm helping others create similar stores around the state. David Trone got arrested for that.  The attorney general insisted that David Trone and his family owned all of the stores. The attorney general’s office summoned clients of the consulting firm and insinuated that the Trone family owned their stores.

The clients’ attorneys’ advice was to fire the consulting firm to demonstrate who owned the stores.  After DJT Consulting was fired, a state judge threw out 19 of 23 charges; the rest were dropped later.  David Tronetakes some satisfaction that the Attorney General eventually got himself into enough trouble that he went to jail.

David Trone’s attorney through all of this was a national board member of the American Civil Liberties Union.  As his businesses thrived, David Trone gave money away.  To universities. He was invited to join their boards.  To hospitals, especially for opioid addiction research after a relative died from an overdose.  And to the American Civil Liberties Union.  More clearly than conservative Republicans, David Trone had a vision of what government overreach was.

David Trone brought that vision to his failed 2016 campaign, to his successful 2018 and 2020 campaign, and to his role in Congress.  Progressives were suspicious.  He would be pro-business.  He is not anti-business, but his legislative interests follow his philanthropic ones.  He has a particular interest in health care, in hospitals and addiction and mental health.  He has a particular interest in higher education.  And he has a particular interest in civil liberties.

David Trone will be bringing his experience and his vision of what is important to a campaign in a district which now tilts, just the slightest bit, Republican.  Let’s make sure he is not vulnerable to Delegate Neil Parrot. David Trone defeated him by 20 points in a district which was D+12.  Let’s make sure David Trone gains a majority of the vote in a district that is now R+1.

Democrats to support in Republican Tilting or Leaning Districts

INCUMBENTS

MD 06 R+1 David Trone See Political Note #466

MI 08 R+1 Dan Kildee   See Political Note #459

IA 03 R+2 Cindy Axne.  See Political Note #428

NJ 07 R+3 Tom Malinowski. See Political Note #363

KS 03 R+3 Sharice Davids See Political Note #412

PA 07 R+4 Susan Wild. See Political Note #394

MI 07 R+4 Elissa Slotkin. See Political Note #378

OH 09 R+8 Marcy Kaptur See Political Note #430

PA 08 R+8 Matt Cartwright. See Political Note #70

WI 03 R+9 State Senator Brad Pfaff See Political Note #418

ME 02 R+10 Jared Golden. See Political Note #406

AZ 02 R+15 Tom O’Halleran  See Political Note #389

 

CHALLENGERS

AK AL EVEN Non-Partisan Physician and Fisherman Al Gross  See Political Note #245

OH 13 R+2 State Rep Emilia Sykes See Political Note #460

CO 08 R+3 State Rep Yadira Caraveo See Political Note See Political Note #461

OH 01 R+3 City Councilor Greg Landsman. See Political Note #452

NE 02 R+3 State Senator Tony Vargas See Political Note #453

CA 40 R+4 Physician Asif Mahmood. See Political Note #456

IA 01 R+4 State Rep and Law Professor Christina Bohannan.  See Political Note #411

IA 02 R+6 State Sen Liz Mathis.  See Political Note #445

MI 10 R+6 County Judge Carl Marlinga

CA 41 R+7 Prosecutor Will Rollins

CA 03 R+8 Physician Kermit Jones See Political Note #439

TX 23 R+13 Marine Vet and Small Business Expert John Lira. See Political Note #424

NC 11 R+14 Pastor and County Commissioner Jasmine Beach Ferrara

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