The past week has not been a good one for Rep. David Trone (D-MD).
Trone, who is into his third term in Congress, has been considered the leading contender for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat currently being held by the retiring Democrat Sen. Ben Cardin. All available polling shows Trone firmly ahead of his main primary opponent, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
If he wins, Trone is likely to take on former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
READ: New Poll Shows GOP Has Strong Chance to Flip Multiple Democrat Senate Seats
But as it turns out, getting to that point might be harder than it initially looked for Trone after he slipped up and uttered a racial slur during a House hearing last Thursday while going back and forth with Shalanda Young, a black Biden administration official, in an attempt at dunking on Republicans:
[Trone] uttered a racial slur during a Thursday House Budget Committee hearing, something he says was unintentional
Rep. David Trone, D-Md., dropped the disparaging term for Black people while speaking during the hearing about tax policy with Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Budget and Management, who was testifying before the committee.
“So this Republican jigaboo that — it’s the tax rate that’s stopping business investment, it’s just completely faulty by people who have never run a business,” he said. “They’ve never been there. They don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.”
Watch:
🚨Maryland Democrat Senate frontrunner Rep. David Trone utters racial slur during House meeting:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 22, 2024
"Republican j****boo"
Trone was talking about tax policy with OMB Director Shalanda Young, who is a black woman.
Trone later apologized, explaining that he meant to say “bugaboo." pic.twitter.com/kdrR33V8In
It didn’t take long for Trone to start groveling, claiming he made a “mistake”:
“Jigaboo” is a derogatory and offensive term for a Black person. The Oxford English Dictionary says the word is of unknown origin, its first documented use found in a song from 1909.
Trone apologized in a statement to the Washington Post. “While attempting to use the word ‘bugaboo’ in a hearing, I misspoke and mistakenly used a phrase that is offensive,” he said.
“Upon learning the meaning of the word I was deeply disappointed to have accidentally used it, and I apologise.”
Later, Trone invoked his so-called “white privilege” in a statement posted to social media:
Yesterday, while attempting to use the economic term ‘bugaboo’ in a hearing, I used a word that should never be used any time, anywhere, in any conversation.
— David Trone (@davidjtrone) March 22, 2024
Regardless of what I meant to say, I shouldn’t have used that language and I'm deeply sorry. https://t.co/6iTRpYwfwL pic.twitter.com/nhaCFWRKQv
But will it work? Woke activists are saying nope:
TikTok is going in on David Trone. He should take the L on the $30M+ he has spent and drop out. He done kicked the hornets nest. I said this man ain’t it. Glad folks have woken up to what I been knew. pic.twitter.com/DcuVm4lkza
— Candidly Tiff (@tify330) March 25, 2024
David Trone, IKYFL saying you just learned the meaning of j*gaboo at your big age…be fkn for real! The way he has been portraying himself as racial justice warrior savior of the BlaCckKsssszzz….that doesn't square with not knowing the term. As a millennial Black girl who has… https://t.co/aY8SNcdIaO pic.twitter.com/EbWyxuQC8o
— Reecie @BlackWomenViews (@ReecieColbert) March 22, 2024
And on Monday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who is not exactly best buds with Trone, announced his endorsement for Alsobrooks:
Jamie Raskin, who defeated David Trone in a bitter 2016 House primary, endorses Angela Alsobrooks in the MD Senate primary>>> https://t.co/Gi9EzKRoej
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) March 25, 2024
As did five members of the Congressional Black Caucus:
The five lawmakers bucked their House colleague Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), Alsobrooks’ primary opponent, in endorsing the Prince George’s County executive, Axios has learned.
[…]
Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) endorsed Alsobrooks.
The Maryland Senate primary is May 14th. We’ll keep you posted on developments in this race. As always, stay tuned.
