As millions pour into race, McClain Delaney and Trone skip voter forums

Jeff Barker, The Baltimore Sun on Jun 11, 2026

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BALTIMORE — U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney and Democratic challenger David Trone are filling the airwaves with attack ads in their expensive congressional primary race, but have skipped a series of candidate forums across the district that organizers say give voters opportunities to hear directly from candidates.

The wealthy candidates, who are the frontrunners in the race and have each mostly self-financed their campaigns, didn’t show up for a Washington County Democratic Central Committee forum on May 23, attended by other candidates for the seat. Then they missed a Young Democrats forum in Hagerstown on May 30, and then skipped a League of Women Voters of Frederick County forum on June 1. They also missed forums in Gaithersburg and Frostburg.

Neither campaign provided a direct explanation to The Baltimore Sun for the candidates’ absence from multiple forums.

The campaign of Trone, whose records show has loaned his campaign $10 million, did not respond to The Sun’s questions about missing the forums. Trone, co-founder of the national alcohol retailer Total Wine & More, was the 6th District representative before unsuccessfully seeking Maryland’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2024. He spent more than $60 million, almost all of it his own money, in the Senate primary and is now seeking to regain his former House seat.

McClain Delaney’s campaign responded to The Sun’s emails but did not directly address why she had missed the events.

“Congresswoman McClain Delaney is the most engaged and effective representative Maryland’s 6th District has seen in decades,” the response by campaign manager Nick London began. It went on to describe how she “stands up” to Republican President Donald Trump.

When The Sun followed up, London replied by emailing: “That statement was a direct response to your question.”

Candidate forums and debates are a longtime staple of congressional races.

Poor attendance at such events “is really unfortunate because how you interact with everyday people who want to ask you questions is all about the purpose of campaigning. It’s about connecting with people,” said Roger Hartley, a professor in the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs. “It raises questions about your accessibility, and that’s one of the most important functions of the office.”

Hartley said he didn’t know why the two candidates missed the forums, but that some candidates fear such events “put them in position to make a mistake” or offer opponents chances to launch verbal attacks.

There are 11 candidates in the primary — eight Democrats and three Republicans — for the seat, which stretches from the Montgomery County suburbs, into Frederick County, and into deep Western Maryland. The forums generally included multiple candidates from the field.

The Republican candidates — Robin Ficker and Chris Burnett of Montgomery County and Mariela Roca of Frederick County — have attracted much less attention than the Democrats because they have substantially less campaign resources.

McClain Delaney, who had loaned her campaign $2.2 million as of March 31, and Trone have each launched a barrage of negative attacks on the other in TV ads.

“It was disappointing that these two prominent candidates could not attend,” said Nanette Onley Hobson, 1st vice president of the League of Women Voters of Frederick County. She added that both campaigns “were both aware of our invitation.”

The June 1 forum, held at a Frederick church, proceeded with four other Democratic candidates: George Gluck, Ethan Wechtaluk, A. Mark Wilks, and Alexis Goldstein.

“If these candidates [McClain Delaney and Trone] can’t be bothered to show up when they still need our votes, why would they show up when they have them?” Goldstein, a fired federal worker from Gaithersburg, said in a written statement.

The same candidates — plus a fifth Democrat, Bo White — also showed up at a May 30 Hagerstown forum co-sponsored by a Young Democrats organization.

The forum moderator, Thomas Jackson, told the audience at the outset that Trone “did intend to be here today, but he had a family emergency that arose. So he was not able to appear.”

Trone’s campaign did not respond to a question from The Sun about the nature of the emergency.

Asked about McClain Delaney’s and Trone’s absences, Jackson said in an interview that “this was the only opportunity that these candidates had to address the concerns of young people. It was definitely disappointing not to have full participation.”

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