April McClain Delaney talks with supporters at her Democratic primary election night watch party in downtown Frederick. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.
April McClain Delaney, the Democrat seeking to replace U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th) in Congress, has dropped an additional $1 million of her own money into the campaign over the last three weeks, new campaign finance records show.
Delaney, who is battling former state Del. Neil C. Parrott (R) in a race that could help determine control of the House of Representatives, has now loaned her campaign $3.1 million and has spent more than $4.1 million so far.
In his latest filing, Parrott reported raising just shy of $80,000 between Oct. 1 and 16 and spending $26,000 during that time. For the entire election cycle, Parrott has raised $986,000 and spent $670,000, finishing the reporting period with $374,000 in his campaign account.
Reports showing the fundraising and spending activities of federal candidates and political action committees between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16 were due at the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. They are the last full summaries of the campaigns’ financial activities to be released before Election Day on Nov. 5, although campaigns are required to release shorter reports between now and the election showing any major donations and expenditures.
Delaney’s finance statement through Oct. 16 showed an additional $500,000 loan to her campaign, and a subsequent report showed another $500,000 loan made on Monday. Delaney is an attorney and former U.S. Commerce Department official who is married to former Rep. John Delaney (D), who held the 6th District seat from 2013 to 2019.
Through Oct. 16, Delaney had spent more than four times as much as Parrott on the election. But as the race receives more national attention in the campaign’s closing days, several big names in politics and finance are chipping in.
Delaney’s campaign isn’t just being fueled by her family’s wealth. In the past three-plus weeks, she has received several high-dollar donations, including from her husband’s former colleagues. Among them:
$1,000 from Howard County Executive Calvin Ball (D);
$3,300 from Steve Elmendorf, a public affairs consultant who is a former top aide to ex-House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri;
$3,300 from Lynn Leonsis, a philanthropist and wife of Ted Leonsis, the cofounder of AOL and a Washington, D.C., sports mogul;
$2,500 from former U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.);
$1,000 from former D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D);
$1,000 from state Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel);
$2,000 from the Building Economic Empowerment PAC, controlled by U.S. Rep. Jim Hines (D-Conn.);
$1,000 from Bridge the Gap PAC, controlled by U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.);
$1,000 from the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund;
$2,000 from the Budzinski PAC, controlled by U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinksi (D-Ill.);
$1,000 from the Build America PAC of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Ill.);
$1,500 from Equality PAC, an LGBTQ organization;
$2,000 from U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.);
$1,000 from MAC PAC, controlled by U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.);
$2,500 from the Midwest Values PAC, controlled by former U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.);
$5,000 from the National Association of Realtors;
$5,000 from the No Labels PAC;
$1,000 from the Americans Making Opportunities PAC of U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.);
$1,000 from the Beyond Thoughts and Prayers PAC of U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.);
and $2,000 from the Sunflower Seeds PAC of U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas).
Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16, Delaney reported raising $677,000, including the $500,000 loan and spending $787,000. In all she has raised almost $4.4 million, much of it self-funded, and has spent more than $4.1 million. She had $208,000 on hand as of Oct. 16.
A separate campaign account, the Delaney Victory Fund, reported raising almost $66,000 between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16. That account received $10,000 donations from Ted Leonsis, Raul Fernandez, a Northern Virginia tech entrepreneur, and his wife Jean-Marie Fernandez, a philanthropist. The New Democratic Coalition contributed $5,000.
Parrott, too, reported receiving notable donations from outside groups over the past three week, including:
$3,000 from Stephen Moore, a conservative economist and commentator who headlined a fundraiser for Parrott this month;
$2,000 from U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and another $5,000 from his Eye of the Tiger PAC;
$3,300 from Jeffrey Coors, the brewing heir and prominent conservative donor;
$150 from former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R), who also headlined a fundraiser for Parrott this month;
$1,000 from Mark Epstein, the husband of Ami Hoeber, who was the GOP nominee for the 6th District seat in 2016 and 2018;
$2,000 from U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and $5,000 from his Buckeye Liberty PAC;
and about $1,800 from the House Freedom Fund, which is connected to the House Freedom Caucus.
Millions still coming into the Senate race
The pricey election to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) got pricier, continuing to draw millions of dollars in the last three weeks.
With several recent polls showing her ahead — including two this week that suggests she has a double-digit advantage — Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) reported raising more than $2.5 million between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16 alone. That brings her total take for the campaign to more than $28 million.
She spent $3.2 million during that two-week period and has spent $25.7 million overall. As of Oct. 16, she had almost $2.7 million in her campaign account.
Former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) reported raising $670,000 from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16 and spending $618,000 during that time. He has taken in more than $10.9 million since becoming a candidate in February and has spent $9.3 million since then. He had $1.6 million in the bank on Oct. 16.
But Hogan’s level of fundraising and spending is dwarfed by the financial power of Maryland’s Future, a political action committee aligned with the former governor. That entity brought in $3.1 million during the first two weeks in October alone, fueled by six-figure contributions from seven big GOP donors. The PAC spent $10.2 million, mainly for ads and literature attacking Alsobrooks.
In all, Maryland’s Future raised $30.2 million through Oct. 16 — and then reported raising an additional $4.1 million in the days since.
A newly created political committee to aid Hogan, called the Old Line PAC, had no financial details in its report of financial activities through Oct. 16. But it did report spending $296,000 on campaign literature since then — without identifying the sources of the funding.
Hogan’s own PAC, Better Path Forward, collected $19,000 from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16 and spent $121,000 — most of it a transfer to a separate entity, the Hogan Victory Fund, for media buys.