Three candidates in next week’s Democratic primary for the seat of retiring Maryland Rep. Steny H. Hoyer have teamed up to criticize the millions of dollars in outside spending flooding into the district.
Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, businesswoman Quincy Bareebe and former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker called on rival Adrian Boafo — the beneficiary of the spending — as well as Hoyer and other Boafo supporters such as Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks to disavow the millions in outlays, saying those groups shouldn’t be influencing the primary for an open seat.
“Special interests don’t spend money out of civic goodwill. They spend the kind of money that we see because they expect someone to work for them,” Baker said on a press call Tuesday.
Boafo, a member of the state House of Delegates who previously worked for Hoyer, has, through Tuesday, benefited from $8.8 million in spending by outside groups supporting his campaign. Protect Progress, a crypto-backed super PAC, and the United Democracy Project, the political arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, are the two biggest spenders in the race, disbursing $4.9 million and $2.9 million, respectively, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
