Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former Democratic majority leader who is retiring after 45 years in Congress, endorsed his former campaign manager Adrian Boafo to succeed him in the House on Friday.
“I’m not endorsing against anybody, I’m endorsing for somebody that I think would do a good job,” Hoyer said in an interview with The Washington Post. “He really knows the district. He knows the people. He’s served the people.”
Hoyer said he reached his decision after speaking with multiple candidates.
Boafo, 31, is one of several Democrats vying to replace Hoyer in Maryland’s 5th District, which stretches from the suburbs east of Washington to southern Maryland. He has represented Prince George’s County in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2023 after earlier service on the Bowie City Council, where he also served as mayor pro tem.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” Boafo told The Washington Post. “To not only have the support of my former boss, but somebody who’s done the job for so long to be able to say, ‘I think you can pick up the mantle.’”
In addition to working on Hoyer’s congressional campaign, Boafo also worked as a lobbyist for the software giant Oracle.
Hoyer, 86, announced earlier this month that his 23rd term would be his last, closing out a lengthy career as the third longest-serving member in the House. First elected in a 1981 special election, he climbed through the ranks and spent two decades as the second-ranking House Democrat under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Hoyer’s 5th District is a safely blue seat, with whoever wins the Democratic primary basically guaranteed to win in November.
Read the full article here