🇺🇸 lA Brooklyn victory party erupted into repeated “F*ck AIPAC” chants. The celebration followed Claire Valdez and other DSA-backed candidates defeating pro-Israel Democrats in New York primaries.
Adrian Boafo, a Maryland state delegate, has won the Democratic primary for Maryland's 5th Congressional District, the seat held for 45 years by retiring House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, after outside spending groups poured more than $12.5 million into backing his candidacy.
The final FEC filings tell the story in full: outside groups, most notably the pro-crypto super PAC Protect Progress and AIPAC's United Democracy Project, had spent a collective $12.5 million in the Maryland 5th District race as of the eve of the primary, more than all 24 Democratic candidates combined had raised as of June 3.
Boafo's own campaign had spent just $830,000 by June 3. The outside money did what his direct fundraising could not.
Nearly $4.8 million of the outside spending came from Protect Progress, a crypto-industry super PAC backed by some of the wealthiest interests in the cryptocurrency sector. Another $2.8 million came from United Democracy Project, AIPAC's super PAC.
In just the final two weeks before the vote, almost $4 million more flooded in: $1.9 million from Protect Progress, $1.5 million from United Democracy Project, and $250,000 each from PACs Project 218 and Rolling Sea Action Fund.
The scale prompted three of Boafo's rivals to issue a joint public statement calling the spending a corruption of the democratic process. Harry Dunn, Quincy Bareebe, and Rushern Baker joined forces to blast the influx, saying: "When nearly $8 million in outside money floods into a congressional primary, the public has every right to ask why and what those special interests expect in return."
Boafo, 32, defeated a field of roughly 24 Democratic candidates. His most prominent opponent was Harry Dunn, the former US Capitol Police officer who became a public figure for his role defending the Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots. Dunn made opposition to President Donald Trump the cornerstone of his campaign, including criticism of the pardoning of January 6 defendants.
Nancy Pelosi endorsed Dunn, calling him a "true American hero," breaking with Hoyer, who backed Boafo. Despite the high-profile support, Dunn faced questions about his eligibility: he lived outside the district in Wheaton, Maryland, and said he would relocate if elected.
For Dunn, the race marked the second consecutive cycle in which the United Democracy Project spent heavily against him. In 2024, the group put more than $4 million behind state Sen. Sarah Elfreth, who went on to win the 3rd District primary and the general election.
The outside money did not arrive in a vacuum. Boafo came into the race with the full weight of Maryland's Democratic establishment: endorsements from Hoyer, Governor Wes Moore, Senator Angela Alsobrooks, and the state's largest teachers union.
Before his 2022 election to the Maryland House of Delegates, Boafo worked as a campaign aide to Hoyer and as a federal lobbyist for Oracle. His own 2026 lobbying filings contradict his campaign-trail claim that he never lobbied for data centres.
The involvement of Protect Progress in a Maryland congressional primary is not an isolated move. The cryptocurrency industry has dramatically escalated its political spending ahead of the 2026 cycle, seeking friendly lawmakers as Congress debates landmark digital asset legislation. As covered in America's most consequential crypto bill, the CLARITY Act is on the brink of becoming the first comprehensive federal crypto law, and the industry is spending heavily to shape who votes on it.
Their goal is not a secret: they want lawmakers who will be friendly to their interests and resistant to regulations that could affect their profits.
Progressive Maryland Executive Director Larry Stafford put it directly: "Unlike any other instance of AIPAC and other large money interests interfering in Maryland politics, this particular person had no chance of winning if not for crypto and AIPAC throwing out these large sums of money for them."
Boafo's campaign pushed back, calling the attacks from rivals a new level of desperation and saying the candidate has spoken out against this stuff for years.
The Maryland race is part of a broader pattern. The same financial muscle driving crypto's political push is also reshaping capital markets, as explored in Nvidia's $20B bond play and the Bitcoin miners quietly betting on AI, where the industry's access to institutional-scale capital is underwriting its influence across multiple fronts simultaneously.
With Maryland's 5th District heavily tilted toward Democrats, Boafo is not expected to face a serious Republican challenge in November. He will likely take Hoyer's seat.
The primary has already become a reference point in the wider debate over money in Democratic politics and a test case for how far crypto's political influence can reach beyond Washington, into the congressional contests that will shape federal regulation of digital assets for years to come.
🇺🇸 lA Brooklyn victory party erupted into repeated “F*ck AIPAC” chants. The celebration followed Claire Valdez and other DSA-backed candidates defeating pro-Israel Democrats in New York primaries.