Rep. David Trone, D-Md., who was recently blasted for using a disparaging term for Black people during a House hearing, is officially the largest self-funded candidate of a Senate primary race in U.S. history.
Trone contributed $18.5 million of his own money to his Maryland Senate campaign, Fox News confirmed. And he brought in a total of over $40 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). No candidate running in a Senate primary has contributed this amount in recorded Senate primary history.
“David Trone has been crystal clear that he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to beat Larry Hogan in November and protect the Democratic Senate majority,” the Trone campaign said in a statement. “With national Republicans and right-wing donors flooding Maryland with contributions to Hogan, there has never been a more important time to take the fight directly to Mitch McConnell, Larry Hogan and Donald Trump. David Trone is the best candidate to do that.”
Trone recently uttered a racial slur while speaking on tax policy during a House Budget Committee hearing in March, later admitting to the remark, but saying he intended to use a different term.
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“So this Republican jigaboo that — it’s the tax rate that’s stopping business investment, it’s just completely faulty by people who have never run a business,” Trone said during the hearing. “They’ve never been there. They don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.”
Trone apologized for the comment, telling Fox News Digital, “I recognize that, as a White man, I have privilege. And as an elected official, I have a responsibility for the words I use — especially in the heat of the moment. Regardless of what I meant to say, I shouldn’t have used that language.”
Following the controversial comment, Reps., Barbara Lee, D-Calif.; Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.; Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.; Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio; and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, announced they would be endorsing Trone’s Democratic primary opponent in the Maryland race.
A spokesperson for Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Md., the candidate leading the Maryland GOP Senate primary, told Fox News Digital “Hogan will continue to meet Marylanders where they are and may be outspent, but not be outworked in this campaign.”
“Following Gov. Hogan’s bus tour directly reaching voters in every region of the state, we are excited to host a grassroots family BBQ with hundreds of supporters with tickets starting at $50 and kids under 12 for free,” Blake Kernan, press secretary for Hogan’s Senate campaign, told Fox in a statement.
“Gov. Hogan will continue to meet Marylanders where they are and may be outspent, but not be outworked in this campaign.”
While Trone leads the Democratic primary race, he is likely to face Republican candidate Hogan on the general election ballot. Hogan, according to a recent Washington Post/University of Maryland poll released in March, is leading the race against Trone by double digits.
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.