David Trone bought two gala tables and couldn’t fill one. His staff spent Saturday evening staging photos and recording his opponent’s speech. Welcome to the 2026 MD-6 Democratic primary.
There’s a particular kind of desperation that reveals itself not in what people say, but in what they do when they think no one is watching.
On Saturday evening, the Washington County Democratic Central Committee held its 2026 Winter Gala at Courtland Mansion in Hagerstown – one of those Democratic Party events that exists because local party volunteers care enough to organize a dinner, sell tables, invite speakers, and bring together people who believe in something bigger than themselves.
Chair Angela Batista and her team spent months putting it together. It showed. Well done.
Saturday evening was supposed to be about unity.
It was supposed to be about Western Maryland Democrats coming together during one of the most consequential political moments in modern American history.
The evening was about hearing from House Speaker Jocelyn Peña Melnyk, who drove nearly two hours from Annapolis because she promised to visit every corner of the state.
It was supposed to be about State Delegate Matt Schindler’s legislative work on behalf of Hagerstown.
It was supposed to be about the sitting congresswoman for Maryland’s 6th District, updating her constituents about her work in Washington.
And the night was mostly about all of those things.
Except at one table, dead center in the front-middle of the banquet hall, where the David Trone congressional campaign was putting on a clinic in how not to behave at a Democratic Party dinner.
It’s a story about the gregarious Romans versus everybody else on the side of decency.
Two Democratic Gala Tables – One Problem
Former Congressman David J. Trone, who is challenging Rep. April McClain Delaney in the June Democratic primary, purchased at least two tables for Saturday’s gala.
A generous gesture on its face; it’s the kind of thing you do when you want to show strength in a county where you once represented the people.
There was just one problem: Mr. Trone could barely fill one table, let alone two.
The visual told a story that no campaign ad can fix. In a room full of Washington County Democrats who showed up because they wanted to be there, David Trone’s contingent was conspicuously depleted.
For a man who has already loaned himself $5 million for this race – and who dropped $62.9 million on his failed Senate 2024 bid – buying tables was the easy part.
Finding people who wanted to sit at them?
That was apparently harder.
The Trone Staff Who Couldn’t Read The Room (When That’s Their Job)
Here’s what made Saturday night notable – and what anyone who was paying attention noticed.
Seated near Mr. Trone were Nathaniel McCarthy, his chief of staff, and Sonny Holding, his campaign manager.
If those names sound familiar, they should.
Mr. McCarthy has been a Trone operative since 2017, when he started as a field organizer for Trone’s first congressional campaign. He climbed to deputy political director, then served as press secretary during Trone’s catastrophic $63 million failed Senate race, before briefly working as communications director for Rep. Robert Menendez in New Jersey.
Now Nathaniel McCarthy is back – this time, as David Trone’s chief of staff.
But it’s Sonny Holding’s story that deserves the full telling, because it is one of the more remarkable acts of political ingratitude you’ll find in Maryland politics.
Sonny Holding – Political Judas
Former Rep. John Delaney, Mrs. McClain Delaney’s husband, gave Sonny Holding his career.
That’s no hyperbole; it’s precisely what it is.
In 2012, Holding was a campaign field worker for “Friends of John Delaney” – first as a deputy field director, then a regional field director during Mr. Delaney’s first congressional race.
When Mr. Delaney won his first congressional race in November 2012, he brought Holding into his official congressional office as a field representative in January 2013. By January 2015, Mr. Delaney had promoted Holding to district director for the Western Maryland region – the senior district-level position that made Holding the face of the congressman’s office in Hagerstown, the person constituents knew and trusted.
Sonny Holding held that role for three-and-a-half years, through July 2018.
That’s nearly seven years.
John Delaney took a campaign staffer, gave him a career in public service, promoted him, and trusted him with the most important constituency relationship in Western Maryland.
When David Trone succeeded Mr. Delaney in Congress in January 2019, Sonny Holding stayed on as district director, a natural transition Mr. Delaney facilitated. By February 2023, David Trone had elevated Sonny Holding to the position of district chief of staff, a role he held through the end of Trone’s term in January 2025.
Then came the moment that told you exactly who Sonny Holding is (and this is the worst part, I’m afraid).
Sonny Holding’s Sell-Out
When April McClain Delaney took office in January 2025, she kept Sonny Holding on her congressional team.
Not as a field rep; not in some reduced role.
No, Mrs. McClain Delaney made Sonny Holding her chief of staff – the highest-ranking position in her congressional office.
The Delaney family, once again, placed their trust in Sonny Holding.
After John Delaney launched his political career.
After John Delaney promoted Holding within his congressional office.
After John Delaney facilitated Holding’s transition to David Trone’s congressional office.
April McClain Delaney entrusted Holding with the top job. That’s a big deal in politics.
Sonny Holding repaid the Delaneys the trust they placed in him by walking out in January 2026 to manage the campaign of the man running against her, who endorsed her in 2024.
Without John Delaney and April McClain Delaney, Sonny Holding would be another sweaty field staffer running campaign signs and lit to volunteers on a Sunday afternoon.
David Trone – The Staffer Pirate
According to Maryland Matters, Sonny Holding wasn’t the only staffer influenced by Trone’s big money.
Mr. Trone’s current director of outreach, Sarah Dreyer, who had been serving as McClain Delaney’s district director, also defected to become Trone’s deputy campaign manager.
I wonder how much he’s paying her? Probably a lot. Probably enough to shred your dignity.
Sure, it’s about the money.
What else is there?
Let’s be honest with ourselves: It’s the money. Nobody really wants to work for David Trone; they see dollar signs.
But the newly pirated congressional campaign staff histories of Trone’s aren’t the only story.
Like any good Roman foot soldier, the obnoxiousness is just part of the persona.
David Trone’s Sleazy Congressional Staff
Throughout Saturday evening’s Washington County Democratic gala, Nathaniel McCarthy and Sonny Holding were obnoxiously staging photographs with Trone – working overtime to manufacture the appearance of organic moments.
It was gross. I saw it in real time. It was just – I can’t think of any better word than gross. Disgusting – yes. Weird – yeah. It was performative in the worst way possible.
If you’ve been around campaigns long enough, you know the choreography: the staffer who positions the candidate next to the right person, pulls out the phone at the right angle, and creates the illusion of spontaneous connection. It’s standard operating procedure at campaign rallies and fundraisers.
And it’s bullshit. We all know it. That’s what staffers are paid to do – but it’s still bullshit.
Saturday’s Democratic gala was not a campaign rally. The event was a county central committee dinner.
But here’s the part that crossed the line: during Rep. April McClain Delaney’s speech, Nathaniel McCarthy, a guy I had a lot of respect for previously, seated to Trone’s right, held up his cell phone and recorded April McClain Delaney’s remarks.
Let that register for a moment.
The chief of staff to a former congressman sat at a Washington County Democratic Party unity dinner and used his smartphone (it looks like an iPhone) to capture opposition research on the sitting congresswoman while she spoke to her own constituents.
The gala wasn’t the kind of event where a paid campaign tracker video-records their opponent.
Campaign trackers show up at public town halls, press conferences, and legislative hearings. They stand in the back of the room with a visible camera. There are unwritten rules about this sort of thing, and the Trone campaign violated every single one of them Saturday night.
It was gauche.
It was tacky.
It was obnoxious.
And it told you everything you need to know about the difference between David Trone’s campaign and Rep. April McClain Delaney’s.
McClain Delaney and Trone Speak – The Contrast
If you want to understand the fundamental difference between David Trone and April McClain Delaney, don’t read their policy papers.
Read their speeches from Saturday night.
David Trone spoke before McClain Delaney.
His remarks ran one performative emotion too many.
And the word that appeared most frequently in David Trone’s speech?
“I.”
I listened.
I worked with so and so.
Our team passed 26 bills.
I went to bat.
I walked the picket line.
Through our family foundation, we contribute over $1 million.
We brought home millions.
We fought for it.
We secured the funds.
When you call, I pick up my phone.
I give out my home number.
It was a speech designed to remind everyone in the room of what David Trone did when he was in Congress – a greatest-hits reel of a man who desperately wants you to remember the good ‘ol days.
Trone rattled off the Boys and Girls Club funding, the Brooks House contributions, the public safety training center, and the Crisis Stabilization Unit at Meritus.
All real accomplishments.
All in the past tense.
All delivered with the energy of a man reading his own résumé aloud to people who didn’t ask.
“I’m not in this for the paycheck,” Trone told the crowd. “I’m not in this for the glory.”
For a man who spent $62.9 million of his own money on a historically failed U.S. Senate race, that line landed with all the subtlety of a bowling ball on a tile floor.
McClain Delaney Speaks
Then it was April McClain Delaney’s turn to speak.
Where Trone reminisced, McClain Delaney reported.
Where Trone said “I,” she said “We” – and meant it in the way that includes the room.
Mrs. McClain Delaney’s husband, former Congressman John Delaney, introduced her with genuine warmth and humor; it wasn’t manufactured.
Mr. Delaney drew parallels between his wife and former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – not in ideology, but in the steel beneath the grace. He talked about watching her fall asleep reading constituent letters during the DOGE shutdowns, about how Rep. Jamie Raskin, who endorsed McClain Delaney, told him nobody in Congress has been fighting harder.
The Contrast Between McClain Delaney and Trone
April McClain Delaney then took the microphone and gave a speech that was substantive to the point of being almost wonky – and that was exactly the point.
- She discussed the SAFE Act and its impact on voter access.
- She talked about her trip to Minnesota with 27 mothers to witness ICE enforcement firsthand.
- She told the story of Louisa (I hope I’m spelling her name correctly), a woman who worked with the Delaney family for 15 years, who became a citizen, who is now so terrified of the political climate that she’s returning to Nicaragua.
- She detailed the fight to save USDA’s Greenbelt research lab, the clawback of 80 percent of research agency funding, and the reopening of the fire academy.
- She talked about the federal legislation she’s pursuing to ban ICE detention in Washington County. She talked about working with the attorney general on 10th Amendment legal strategies.
- She talked about the American Farmers First Act, about SNAP benefits, and about the affordability crisis.
And she did something Trone did not: she talked about the people in the room.
She thanked Angela Batista, the chair of the Washington County Democratic Central Committee, and the central committee members for serving as the public face of the Democratic Party in Washington County.
Mrs. McClain Delaney praised Delegate Matt Schindler’s work in Annapolis.
And she offered deep appreciation for Robin Summerfield, who represents U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen’s Senate office in Western Maryland.
She lifted others rather than herself.
The contrast wasn’t just subtle – it was surgical.
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
What happened Saturday night in Hagerstown is a microcosm of this entire primary.
David Trone’s campaign is built on a lot of money (his money, to be fair), shaky nostalgia, and the assumption that voters in Maryland’s 6th District will mistake purchasing power for earned trust.
David Trone can buy tables – but he can’t fill them. He can fund a campaign – but he can’t manufacture grassroots enthusiasm.
He can hire staff to stage photos and record his opponent – but he can’t buy the kind of authentic connection that April McClain Delaney demonstrated Saturday night when she looked a room of Washington County Democrats in the eye and told them exactly what she’s doing in Congress – and exactly what she’s going to do next.
Mr. Trone’s staffers staging photographs and pointing cell phones at the congresswoman weren’t just being rude. It was more than that. His campaign staffers revealed a congressional campaign that has confused performance with presence, production with purpose, and spending with service.
Is that really the best money can buy? A couple of staffers parading around the room, pretending to be important.
Speaker Peña Melnyk drove two hours to be there. Delegate Schindler talked about the legislation he’s fighting for in Annapolis. Former Congressman John Delaney gave a funny, personal, and real speech.
Mrs. McClain Delaney laid out a policy agenda that would have made a committee staffer take notes.
And the Trone table? What did they do? They were staging selfies and running opposition research like sleazy, sniveling staffers.
That’s the race in a single frame.
Sonny Holding Represents The Sleaziest Element in American Politics
I want to end on something that goes beyond this Maryland congressional race.
Because what happened Saturday night – what’s been happening since David Trone entered this race for no apparent reason – is bigger than a congressional primary.
Sonny Holding isn’t just a campaign manager who switched teams. He’s someone the Delaney family treated like family for the better part of 14 years.
John Delaney gave Sonny Holding his first real gig in politics. He promoted him and trusted him to be the face of the people’s office in Western Maryland – the person who showed up at the VFW halls and the community centers and the constituent meetings where real people needed real help.
April McClain Delaney inherited that trust and deepened it, making Holding her chief of staff – the single most important position in her congressional office.
She didn’t have to make Sonny her top aide (my God, there’s a line out the door who want this job). She chose to do that – because the Delaneys are loyal to the people who work for them.
And Sonny Holding took all of that – the career, the promotions, the trust, the years of professional investment – and sold it to the highest bidder.
That’s not politics; that’s personal.
That’s a man who sat in the Delaneys’ confidence, who knew their operation from the inside, who benefited from their generosity at virtually every stage of his public-service professional life, and who decided that none of it mattered the moment David Trone opened his checkbook.
I watched Sonny Holding work the room Saturday night like a man with no memory.
Staging photos.
Manufacturing moments.
And I thought about what it must feel like for April and John to see someone they invested in – someone they trusted – treat their service like a transaction to flip for a better offer.
What is this? Let’s name it: it’s transactional sleaze at its worst.
It is loyalty discarded for a paycheck. It is the kind of betrayal that doesn’t wash off, no matter how many staged photos you post or how many tables your boss buys.
And it’s why I hate politics – but here I am, writing about it on a Sunday morning. Maybe that says just as much about me, too. Not the policy fights. Not the disagreements. Not even the attack ads and the opposition research. That’s the game, and everyone who plays it knows the rules.
What I hate is the part where human beings who were given everything by people who believed in them turn around and drive the knife in for money, or whatever else. Where relationships that were supposed to mean something turn out to be nothing more than a line item on someone’s résumé, waiting for a higher bid.
Sonny Holding had a decade of loyalty from the Delaney family.
He repaid it with betrayal.
And on Saturday night, in Hagerstown, in a room full of Democrats who came together because they believe in something, it was Sonny Holding walking around looking – I hate writing this – desperate.
It was hard to watch – because it was so damn sad.
That’s not a campaign strategy. That’s a character revelation. At least John and April know the truth about who the real Sonny Holding is.
And no amount of David Trone’s money can buy that back.
The Maryland 6th District Democratic primary is scheduled for June 23, 2026. The filing deadline is February 24, 2026.
