In one of the most closely watched Democratic primaries in the country, a wealthy self-funder squared off against a highly regarded progressive, state Sen. Jamie Raskin, and against a popular former local TV anchor, Kathleen Matthews.
Raskin won the primary contest Tuesday for Maryland's 8th Congressional District.
But not before David Trone, the man behind the chain store Total Wine, had pumped nearly $13 million of his own money into his campaign, setting a record for a congressional race and filling the mailboxes and airwaves in the district.
Matthews, the wife of MSNBC host Chris Matthews, left her anchor gig at WJLA in 2006 for a job as an executive at Marriott. She spent more than $2 million in her bid, and recently lent her campaign half a million. Raskin spent just over $1 million.
The district had long been represented by moderate Republican Connie Morella, until it was gerrymandered so that Chris Van Hollen could move up from the state legislature in 2003. Van Hollen is now making a bid against Rep. Donna Edwards for the Maryland Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who plans to retire.
Raskin was endorsed by The Nation magazine, which rarely weighs into Democratic congressional primaries. Take a listen to his interview on HuffPost's "So That Happened" to get a sense of why.