Ghanaian-American Adrian Boafo wins the Maryland seat Steny Hoyer held for 45 years
The 32-year-old once ran the veteran congressman's campaigns. Now he succeeds him, after beating 22 rivals in the primary.
Bowie — Adrian Boafo, the 32-year-old son of Ghanaian immigrants, has won Maryland's 5th Congressional District, the seat held since 1981 by the former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
The Associated Press called the race at 9.32pm on Tuesday. With most votes counted, the Democrat had about 68% to 31% for the Republican Chris Chaffee. An independent, Mildred Marie Hall, was also on the ballot.
From campaign manager to candidate
Boafo's parents came to the United States from Ghana in the 1980s. He was born in Arlington, Virginia, and raised in Prince George's County, Maryland. He studied at the University of Baltimore and took an MBA at American University.
He ran Hoyer's campaign from 2018 to 2021. In 2019 he won a seat on the Bowie City Council, where colleagues chose him as mayor pro tempore. He later worked as a federal lobbyist for Oracle, and joined the Maryland House of Delegates in January 2023.
Twenty-three candidates, one clear winner
When Hoyer retired, the Democratic primary drew 23 candidates. Hoyer endorsed Boafo in January. On 23 June he carried 204 of the district's 227 precincts and beat his nearest rival, Quincy Bareebe, by more than 15,500 votes.
The primary had its critics. Fellow Democrats attacked him for accepting millions of dollars in support from the pro-crypto super PAC Protect Progress and the United Democracy Project, the political arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
He campaigned on the cost of living, childcare, protecting federal workers and a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. Representing his constituents, he has said, has "never felt more urgent".
Source: BBC via Yahoo News, Fox Baltimore, The Hill, Yen.com.gh, The Daily Gazette, Wikipedia, November 2026.
