Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.) is the projected winner of what could turn out to be the most expensive House of Representatives election of all time.

McClain Delaney defeated the self-funded campaign of billionaire David Trone, who previously held the seat representing Maryland’s solidly blue 6th District and badly wanted it back. McClain Delaney will face only nominal Republican opposition in the fall general election.

The $25 million that Trone plowed into his own campaign helped the contest surpass the Republican primary in Kentucky’s 4th District, where a Trump-backed challenger took down the independent-minded Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), as the most expensive House election ever.

McClain Delaney, who chipped in at least $7 million of her own fortune and also got a late boost from the crypto industry, told HuffPost earlier this month that Trone was a “bored billionaire” out for revenge against elected Democrats who didn’t endorse him in earlier races.

Though they savaged each other with near-constant attack ads on TV, the two candidates did not present radically different policy visions. But there was one fateful House vote McClain Delaney took that became a huge part of the campaign.

In his campaign ads, Trone highlighted McClain Delaney’s January 2025 vote for the Laken Riley Act, the first major bill Donald Trump signed into law during his second term. The law requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain migrants arrested for theft or shoplifting, potentially infringing on constitutional due process protections.

McClain Delaney was one of 44 House Democrats who voted for the bill, and one of several who said she regretted her vote. She said it wasn’t obvious to her in January of last year how immigration enforcement would be weaponized, as in the Minnesota crackdown that left American citizens dead. “How would I have known what DHS would become?” she said.

Democratic voters in Maryland apparently were not moved by Trone’s effort to portray McClain Delaney as a Trump collaborator.

McClain Delaney touted her support from fellow Democrats including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and portrayed Trone as a ruthless businessman who would make alliances with Republicans when it suited him.

It’s Trone’s second stinging defeat since he gave up the seat in 2024 — endorsing McClain Delaney as his successor — and spent $60 million failing to become the Democratic nominee for Senate that year. It’s possible he’ll be back.

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