A small Maryland bank launched and led by a former House Democrat has become home to a striking number of Republican campaigns, according to a review of federal election records.
Forbright Bank was founded by former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), husband to current Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.). In recent years — and particularly since 2024 — Forbright has banked a growing amount of high-profile GOP campaigns.
The effort to block Virginia Democrats from adopting their redistricting referendum banked with Forbright. The Club for Growth has several campaign arms banked with the Maryland lender, including Club for Growth Action and Win It Back PAC.
McClain Delaney, currently locked in a competitive June primary against former Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), jointly owns between $25 million and $50 million in Forbright Bank stock per a 2025 financial disclosure.
There’s no evidence that the $7.9 billion-asset Forbright actively sought Republican clients. And it’s rare for banks to turn down customers for political reasons, especially since 2025.
Pivot. Forbright’s business ties to Republican campaigns grew after a 2022 rebrand, according to a review of deposit interest income reported to the FEC. The firm changed its name in 2022 from Congressional Bank to Forbright, which pitched itself as a firm “committed to decarbonization.”
In the last four years, Forbright Bank has paid a total of just under $400,000 in interest income to GOP campaigns. In 2025 alone, the amount was more than $350,000. That’s far larger than the sum paid to campaign interest in the two decades prior to 2022: just over $90,000. This helps illustrate the uptick in deposits.
That includes campaigns supporting Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, Reps. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas), Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.).
In a statement, Forbright Bank spokesperson Ben Wakana said the firm “does not discriminate based on political affiliation as required by federal regulations.” Wakana said any suggestion that the bank had a political agenda would be “wrong, intentionally misleading and defamatory.”
Many federal campaigns are banked by a combination of local institutions and one of two specialized firms. Nationwide, the $1.7 billion-asset Chain Bridge Bank is the predominant campaign bank for Republicans, while the $8.9 billion-asset Amalgamated Bank has a huge number of Democratic organizations as clients.
In the family. Forbright has few banking ties with Democrats. We identified just one Democratic congressional campaign to bank at Forbright: Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). Congressional Hispanic Caucus Bold PAC reported mortgage payments to Congressional Bank between 2018 and 2023 for a total of about $325,000.
Counterpunch. Trone, co-owner of the liquor chain Total Wine & More, has his own ties to Republicans. McClain Delaney Campaign Manager Nick London pointed us to Trone’s previous support for Republican campaigns.
Total Wine has received $366,000 in disbursements from GOP campaigns, according to an analysis of FEC records. That figure is almost exactly 50% of the $729,000 spent by all federal campaigns at Total Wine since 2003, per the FEC, making the partisan split even.
Trone is self-funding his comeback bid and attempting to run to Delaney’s left. Trone gave up his House seat for an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2024.
