The amount of money Trone has burned is staggering. According to the Open Secrets compendium of self-financersTrone, co-owner of Total Wine & More, spent more of his own money on his Senate primary than any other candidate in the 21st century (and almost certainly ever).
He spent more time running for Senate than any other candidate And general election – except possibly one. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) spent $63 million in 2018. We'll see if Trone's total will beat Scott as he files more campaign finance reports. (Scott, unlike Trone, actually won.)
If there's a silver lining for Trone, though, it's that the investment could have been worse.
While Trone will likely have spent about $200 per vote when the full results are in, that's not the worst return on investment for a self-funder this year. And it's not even the worst return on investment for Trone personally.
One of our favorite election statistics is the number of self-funding dollars per vote. And there have been some doozies in the recent elections. Candidates are spending more and more of their own money not just to lose, but to lose in the primaries and not get as many votes.
While many have pointed to the $1 billion that Mike Bloomberg (D) spent on his similarly run 2020 presidential campaign, other presidential candidates have actually done worse in terms of dollars per vote. And at the top of that list – by a mile – is Doug Burgum (R).
Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, spent about $14 million of his own money to run for president last year, but he dropped out a month before the Iowa caucuses. That means he collected about 500 votes in the states where he remained on the ballot. Total cost: almost $28,000 per vote.
(But hey, he could still put his investment in it Donald Trump's choice as a running mate or a place in Trump's cabinet. So maybe it was worth it after all.)
Also ahead of Bloomberg is fellow 2020 presidential candidate Tom Steyer (D). While Bloomberg spent his billion on about 2.5 million votes (about $427 per vote), Steyer spent more than $340 million on about 260,000 votes (about $1,315 per vote ). per vote).
Among self-funded candidates with $10 million or more who lose a primary this century, these are the three worst returns on their investments.
In fourth place: David Trone… in 2016.
At the time, he spent more than $13 million to secure about 35,000 votes, a loss for the current representative. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), at a cost of $379 per vote.
Following Trone's 2016 bid are 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy ($330 per vote), 2022 Senate candidate Alex Lasry of Wisconsin ($317 after withdrawing before the primaries), 2004 Senate candidate Blair Hull of Illinois ($213) and 2022 Senate candidate Mike Gibbons of Ohio ($147).
That means that depending on final Maryland votes and campaign finance totals, Trone could soon be responsible for two of the worst seven returns on investments — or just two of the worst eight.
