Dark money — and complaints about it — have become the central issue in the 24-candidate field to replace Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland).
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When former House majority leader Steny H. Hoyer (D) announced that he would retire his Maryland seat after 45 years, he set off a generational Democratic free-for-all that drew 24 candidates and nearly $11 million tied to cryptocurrency and pro-Israel interests.
Two political action committees have poured that cash into the primary campaign of Hoyer’s preferred successor and former campaign manager, Del. Adrian Boafo. He is the youngest candidate in the field, a former small-town official in Prince George’s County and federal lobbyist for the global technology company Oracle who began the contest with low name recognition.
The deluge of super PAC spending on his behalf, plowed into ads that mention neither Israel nor crypto, has swamped the chaotic contest.
It has divided a Maryland congressional delegation that prides itself on unity. And in this deep-blue state where most primaries decide the election, Tuesday’s contest has turned into a fight over whether one of Congress’s longest-serving members should be replaced by someone with the same pro-Israel politics.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), one of the fiercest critics of the Israeli government in Congress since the war in Gaza, did not endorse in the race but has told voters to “beware” of outside groups “trying to buy this congressional seat.”
“When you see these ads, understand that the organizations running the ads have their own special interests at heart, not the public interests, not the interests of the people of Maryland’s 5th Congressional District,” Van Hollen told reporters he convened to air his complaints.
He questioned whether Boafo made promises in exchange for the support from donors in the cryptocurrency industry or those affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel group that many Democrats have eschewed since the war in Gaza.
Boafo said in an interview that he’s promised nothing and finds the question “extremely insulting.”
“Any type of big money in politics is bad,” Boafo said Wednesday in between visiting early-voting centers, where he said no voters asked about outside spending and nearly everyone wanted to talk about affordability.
Boafo has been more openly supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship than many Maryland liberal groups have, but he has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As a state lawmaker, he introduced a bill that would protect crypto from state-level regulation and promoted a law to study policies advantageous to the industry.
“Special interests do not spend that kind of money expecting nothing in return,” said Rushern Baker, a former Prince George’s County executive running against Boafo. “They want someone who will work for them. Delegate Boafo already has.”
Baker and two more of Boafo’s opponents — Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer, and Quincy Bareebe, a businesswoman funding her own campaign — held an unusual joint news conference trying to draw attention to the groups behind the ubiquitous ads promoting Boafo. A coalition of progressive groups has cast the race as a referendum on the role of dark money in politics because the identity of donors to super PACs is often concealed.
“If they’re going to spend that, they need to tell voters this is why they’re doing it,” said Wala Blegay, a Prince George’s County Council member running in the primary.
Blegay promoted ceasefire resolutions favored by pro-Palestinian activists, and while she doesn’t disagree much with Boafo on policy or begrudge him high-profile endorsers, it bothers her that voters say they’ve already settled on him because of the ads.
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Protect Progress, a super PAC aligned with the cryptocurrency industry, spent more than $5.5 million boosting Boafo. The organization did not respond to a request for comment.
AIPAC, through its United Democracy Project (UDP) PAC, has spent more than any other entity in the race. AIPAC-related organizations have boosted a Maryland Democrat running in a primary for an open House seat for three consecutive cycles, putting more than $4 million each behind Reps. Glenn Ivey in 2022 and Sarah Elfreth in 2024.
Elfreth’s chief primary opponent two years ago was Dunn, who is now running for Hoyer’s seat. He called the AIPAC-linked funding “a cancer.”
AIPAC’s defenders have said critics unfairly single out pro-Israel groups among the many interests that spend to influence politics.
Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for UDP, declined to say why the organization invested in the race to succeed Hoyer but noted Boafo’s other high-profile endorsers.
“We are proud to stand with Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and Congressman Steny Hoyer,” Dorton said.
The AIPAC-linked ads this year highlight those endorsements and Boafo’s professional biography.
One of the ads paid for by UDP features Hoyer, who has been allied with AIPAC for decades, directly addressing the outside spending.
“You’ve probably seen the attacks on Adrian Boafo. Let’s get something straight. Adrian is a man of deep integrity,” Hoyer says. “He has the courage to stand up to any special interest. I trust him. You can, too.”
The liberal pro-Israel lobbying group J Street accused AIPAC of meddling, “and that should worry all who care about our democracy and about electing leaders who will fight for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” said Tali deGroot, one of the group’s vice presidents.
In addition to the nearly $11 million in pro-Israel and crypto interest, Boafo is boosted by $1.1 million in other PAC money, including $600,000 from Hoyer’s PAC.
Super PACs aligned with crypto, artificial intelligence and AIPAC have emerged as some of the biggest spenders in congressional races this year. Maryland, where UDP has spent $4.5 million on television ads, is one of five states where the super PAC has aired ads in this cycle, according to the political tracking firm AdImpact.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), like Van Hollen, has not endorsed a primary candidate but said the spending in the open House district illustrates why so many progressives want to change campaign finance laws.
“The future could hold a scenario where a handful of extremely wealthy special interest groups bankroll the key races in the country,” Raskin said in an interview. “There’s so much money out there.”
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