ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Rep. David Trone announced Thursday that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat that will open with the retirement of Sen. Ben Cardin.
Trone, a Democrat, has focused on issues including opioid addiction, mental health, medical research and criminal justice reform while in office. The MP said he would continue to advocate for these issues in the Senate.
“Ben Cardin was a great U.S. senator, and we’re looking forward to following in his huge shoes,” Trone said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But we have a lot of challenges facing Maryland and we need to focus on those challenges and first and foremost is the addiction crisis.”
Trone, who is the wealthy founder of Total Wine & More liquor stores, spent more than $12 million of his own money on his home run last year. He said it’s too early to say how much he would spend on a Senate run, but said using his own fortune means he doesn’t take money from political action committees, corporations or lobbyists.
“And the key to that is you make your own decisions,” Trone said. “You can do what’s right for the people of Maryland and not be swayed by anybody.”
Trone is the second candidate to announce a Senate campaign since Cardin said Monday he would not seek re-election.
On Tuesday, Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando, a Democrat, announced his campaign for the seat. Jawando served in former President Barack Obama’s administration as associate director for public engagement and as an advisor to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Trone won a third term in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District in November in a rematch with Republican Neil Parrott, whom he also beat two years earlier. The western Maryland district was redrawn with fewer Democrats after a successful GOP court challenge to the state’s congressional map.
Trone said he worked hard to represent the entire district and ended up winning with nearly 55 percent of the vote in the state’s most competitive House district.
“I’m sure there will be another Democrat rushing to bring that same willingness to be present, to show up everywhere, to never leave Western Maryland behind … and to keep the seat,” he said throne
Other potential candidates for Cardin’s Senate seat include Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat.
The winner of the Democratic primary will be a heavy favorite to win the seat in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1. Maryland has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1980. The state’s eight-member House delegation has just one Republican.
Last year, GOP leadership aggressively tried to recruit then-Gov. Larry Hogan ran against Senator Chris Van Hollen, but Hogan declined, saying he did not “aspire” to be a United States Senator. Hogan, who recently concluded his second and final term as governor, said in March that he would not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024.
Cardin, 79, has long been a fixture of Maryland politics. His retirement will open up his seat for the first time since 2006, when he was elected to the Senate after spending 20 years in the U.S. House representing much of Baltimore and several nearby suburbs.
Cardin is the third Democratic senator to decide not to seek re-election next year, following Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. On the Republican side, Senator Mike Braun of Indiana avoids a second term and will run for governor.
