Maryland wine seller could break record for self-financed campaign

Millionaire wine seller David Trone is on track to pour more of his own money into his House race than any candidate in U.S. elections history, Federal Election Commission figures indicate.

Trone is running in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, which is among the wealthiest and most politically well-connected electorates in the country. He revealed his campaign spending in a full-page ad in Tuesday’s Washington Post.

{mosads}”I’ve spent $9.1 million to date on my campaign,” Trone said in the ad. 

“Campaigns shouldn’t be this expensive.”

They rarely have been.  

To put Trone’s spending into perspective, The Hill asked the Federal Election Commission to crunch historical data on House races going back to the 1970s.

The results suggest that Trone — even at this relatively early point in the campaign cycle — is already close to breaking the all-time record for candidate self-funding in a House contest.

To boost his profile against well-known competitors, including former news anchor Kathleen Matthews, Trone has been blanketing the Maryland airwaves, dispatching glossy mailers and hiring expensive consultants. The primary is scheduled for April 26. 

Like Donald Trump in the Republican presidential race, Trone is making his self-funding a core selling point of his campaign, saying he is free from special interest control because he pays his own way. 

“I certainly could have raised enough money to fund a competitive campaign,” Trone said in his Washington Post ad. “But the PACs, lobbyists and big dollar donors who give money would expect special attention.” 

Trump has been pushing a nearly identical message in the Republican primaries, saying his billionaire status makes him the only candidate not beholden to donors.

But Trone is going even further with his self-funding promise, pledging to pay his own way in future campaigns if he wins in 2016.  

Most self-funding candidates fund their first attempt to get elected and then rely on donors for future campaigns. That’s what Republican candidate Mitt Romney did when he ran for president twice, in 2008 and 2012.

The only past House candidate clearly ahead of Trone in self-financed spending is New Mexico Democratic candidate Phil Maloof, who spent about $9.9 million ($14.5 million in today’s dollars) of his own money on what was ultimately a losing House race in 1998. But nearly all of that money was loaned to the campaign, and a portion was reimbursed to Maloof.

Trone, who is only accepting outside donations of $10 or less, says he is giving his cash as direct payments, not loans, which is a crucial distinction. He told the Washington Post in March that he would not be recouping the money he gives to his campaign. 

Trone’s opponents, which also include state senator Jamie Raskin and former State Department official Joel Rubin, are likely to be vastly outspent by the wine merchant. 

Rubin has been the most forceful in attacking Trone for his lavish spending. His campaign released a web video titled “Not Another Millionaire in Congress,” which shows footage of a Maryland district forum in which Trone says that “three of the four” candidates on stage are multi-millionaires, adding, “Sorry Joel, you didn’t make the cut.”

“This race has turned into David vs. Goliath,” Rubin told The Hill. “If Trone takes the same wasteful and shallow approach to government spending as he does to his campaign, he’ll get nowhere in Congress.” 

Several current House members made major loans to their campaigns to get elected. 

Former car alarm mogul Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) loaned his campaign $3.1 million to win his California House seat for the first time in 2000. And manufacturing millionaire Curt Clawson (R-Fla.) loaned his campaign $4 million to win in 2014, according to the FEC.

But if history is a guide, lavish self-funding can backfire.  

Former California congressman Doug Ose spent heavily in attempts to get back into the House in both 2008 and 2014. He lost both times, despite spending about $7 million on each race. 

Another failed self-funding House candidate, California developer Bill Bloomfield, spent $9.4 million of his own money running as an Independent in 2012.  

Trone’s campaign declined to facilitate an interview with The Hill on Friday.