New Changes! How A $57 Million Congressman Poses Challenges For Black Candidate

Baltimore — The White Democrat Representative David Trone is aware that Black voters in Maryland are the key to securing a Democratic candidacy.

“I have consistently performed exceptionally well in minority areas during my elections since a large portion of my platform is focused on the underprivileged,” stated Trone, a three-term congressman from a nearby suburb of Washington who amassed enormous riches from the operation of a nationwide chain of cheap liquor stores.

Because of his wealth, Trone has been able to spend an astounding $57 million of his own funds to try and defeat his opponent, a Black woman, in Maryland’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

A party that takes pride in uplifting women and people of color has found itself in uncomfortable political limelight as a result of the May 14 race between Trone, 68, and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, 53.

The majority of the state’s leading Democrats support Alsobrooks, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Black governor of Maryland Wes Moore, who referred to her as a leader with “vision and intention.” However, Trone, the creator of Total Wine & More, is investing a ton of money to persuade Maryland’s diverse electorate—nearly one-third of the state’s residents are Black—that he is the progressive underdog.

Trone has declared that while “diversity is fantastic,” voters should “leave color behind” and select the most qualified candidate.

Based on the extremely little public polling conducted during the primary, it appears that the message, made through more than two dozen distinct TV commercials, is effective. However, it remains a significant enough wild card that both candidates are anxious about the result.

Trone contends that he is immune to the influence of special interests because of the wealth he amassed over three decades as he expanded Total Wine & More from a modest family company. Additionally, he has pledged to keep using his wealth to support his campaign against Republican Larry Hogan, the state’s extremely popular former governor and the GOP’s best chance to win this seat, assuming he is selected as the nominee.

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Having a candidate who can raise a significant amount of money on their own is a significant victory, Trone told HuffPost last Thursday following an event attended by a predominantly Black group of seniors in Baltimore, the center of the state’s Black Democratic electorate.

That is not how a large number of the Alsobrooks supporters perceive it.

Sydney Harrison, a council member for Prince George’s County, yelled, “I find it appalling and out of touch that I can watch a woman stand on stage last week and be so stateswoman-like, and you can have an individual looking at her saying he’s the underdog,” at an Alsobrooks rally last Friday. “Is it possible for a billionaire who has a 10-to-1 ratio to look at a woman of color and claim to be the underdog?”

“If you want to be for inclusion, if you want to make sure that all people are included in the United States Senate, you need to be for Angela Alsobrooks,” former House majority leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said to the same group.

“Mitigating the Negative”

Black women are dreadfully underrepresented in the U.S. Senate, where Alsobrooks is seeking to become one of the few women of color to be elected. The optics of a white man attempting to thwart her are making this primary particularly unpleasant for Democrats in a state they can’t afford to lose in November.

Another member of the Maryland congressional delegation who was running behind Alsobrooks, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, declared, “I think we’re all committed to dampening down the negativity and preparing to support whoever wins with all our might.” “This truly has to do with the nation’s future.”

Democrats may be able to add not one, but two Black women to the Senate in 2024 if they win the election. Sen. Tom Carper is expected to retire in Delaware, and Lisa Blunt Rochester will take his place in November. However, to join her, Alsobrooks, who is seeking to succeed retiring Senator Ben Cardin, must win both the primary against Trone and the general election against Hogan.

(A third Black woman running for the Senate, Rep. Barbara Lee, came in fourth in the all-party primary in California in March, trailing two white men: Democratic candidate Rep. Adam Schiff, who is supporting Trone, and Schiff’s Republican opponent.)

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In light of this, Trone argues in his primary that race is irrelevant, even though he has made a number of careless mistakes that highlight the importance of race.

Trone said he just grabbed for the incorrect term when he used what is commonly considered to be a racist slur during a congressional hearing last month. A few days later, Trone referred to Black representatives Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) as “great diversity candidates” during a debate. Additionally, Trone sparked a firestorm of anger last week when he called some Alsobrooks fans “low-level folks.”

Even though David Trone has contributed $57 million to his campaign, the contest between him and Angela Alsobrooks is unpredictable.

Trone said to HuffPost, “I didn’t even know what the word meant,” about the slur he used during the hearing in place of “bugaboo.” “We apologized right away for the one word we used in error during a budget hearing.”

Maryland state representative Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who is supporting Trone, stated that although the slur incident first upset her, she thinks Trone is a decent man who is using his wealth to assist Marylanders. She remarked, “You know, it does bother me.” However, he immediately apologized for it when I spoke with him. He assumed responsibility for it.

Trone unveiled his first attack advertisement against Alsobrooks this week, in which several Black county leaders questioned her suitability as a senator.

In an early version of the advertisement, Prince George’s County Council member Edward Burroughs states, “The U.S. Senate is not a place for training wheels.” This sentence was later removed. (Trone’s campaign informed HuffPost that it had substituted the clip with one that was more powerful.)

I do find it bothersome, you know. However, he immediately apologized for it when I spoke with him. He assumed responsibility for it. Supporter of David Trone Joseline Peña-Melnyk on Trone’s unintentional use of a racial slur during a congressional hearing
However, Trone also characterizes Alsobrooks as a career politician, presumably undermining his claim that she lacks political experience.

Alsobrooks was elected as the state’s attorney for Prince George’s County in 2010 and became the county executive in 2018. The state employee, county executive, and state executive Angela “just moved up the chain slowly,” he claimed.

“Love, Money Cannot Buy You.”

Supporters of Alsobrooks regard Trone as a clumsy candidate demanding an unfair primary, and nothing has changed to make Trone appear any better.

You can’t purchase love with money. Cheryl Landis, a former state legislator from Maryland, claimed that he was using his fortune to better himself.

Landis continued, “I’m thinking if I had $45 million, I would rather give that money to charity,” referring to the sum that Trone was believed to have donated to his campaign just a week before to financial records showing he had dropped an additional $12 million. Meanwhile, Alsobrooks has raised around $8 million during the primaries.

A number of the Black seniors who spoke with Trone in Baltimore last week told HuffPost they saw nothing wrong with his enormous level of self-funding.

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Sarah Holley, 76, who previously supported Hogan, said, “He’s been successful at the American dream, that’s what we all want.” However, she intends to support Trone in both the primary and general elections. “How and why in the world would you try to find a flaw in the fact that he’s fulfilled our collective desire?”

Black lady Sarah Matthews, who started an advocacy group for senior citizens in Baltimore, said she is unmoved by Alsobrooks’ desire to become the state’s first Black female senator. “I’m not interested in her ambitions, and those sound like personal ambitions.”

A “Slow” Triumph

With a gruff manner and a scratchy voice, Trone assured the Baltimore crowd that they should feel okay about his expenditures since he wasn’t an overnight success. After his family’s chicken farm failed, he painstakingly grew his wine and beer store into a 30-state chain. I’m a gradual, slow success, and I can use my money to pay for this election because I’ve been successful,” he declared.

As a politician, Trone claims to get paid $174,000 annually, although he doesn’t need it. He emphasizes that his priorities as a legislator are jail reform and the treatment of mental health and drug use disorders. Trone told HuffPost, “I don’t care about the bullshit that goes with” being in Congress and managing campaigns. To emphasize his point, he pounded a table. “I detest it,”

At her event last Friday, Alsobrooks, a youthful-looking Gen Xer who can subtly dominate a room, didn’t specifically mention Trone to the throng of volunteers wearing neon green campaign t-shirts. But the event was clouded by his presence.

“You know, there are some people in this race who talk, and the more I heard about the pandering, the talk about second chances, the more angry I get,” Alsobrooks remarked, aiming Trone’s initiative to hire ex-offenders for his booze stores. “I view everyone here as a person first.”

Additionallybrooks stated to HuffPost that she has had to work “ten times as hard as him, but I’m accustomed to that” due to Trone’s financial edge.

She spoke about growing up in the same county where she is currently the highest-ranking political politician, the daughter of a newspaper distributor and receptionist. She remarked, “I’ve never had it easy before.”

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The Washington Post praised Alsobrooks’ leadership of Prince George’s during the epidemic and during public safety issues, as well as her advocacy for the FBI’s new headquarters to be erected in Greenbelt, Maryland, in endorsing her over Trone for the nomination. She also brings up certain facets of her record while stumping.

Given his previous comments and the way he’s conducting this race, is Trone a racist, or at least close to one? Additionallybrooks would not go there. His words, in my opinion, convey his attitude. You heard him call exceptionally gifted congresswomen “diversity candidates,” after all. It’s an expression of his general feelings toward female candidates. Furthermore, I believe that some of the other language he’s used speaks for itself,” she remarked.

Though she is aware that the chances are now against her, Belinda Lindsay, a 61-year-old college professor who attended Alsobrooks’ performance last week, said Alsobrooks represents “hope” and “inspiration” for a generation of Black women.

“Some people simply don’t want women in there; they don’t even realize they’re Black,” the speaker stated. “I’m excited that it will happen, but I’m nervous about it too.”