Adrian Boafo

Adrian Boafo is a Ghanaian-American politician and member of the US Democratic Party. On 3 November 2026 he won the race for Maryland's 5th Congressional District, the seat held for decades by former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and he is due to take office in January 2027. He is one of two politicians of Ghanaian heritage who won US House races in the 2026 midterms, alongside Gabe Amo.

Early life and education

Adrian Asiedu Boafo was born on 10 May 1994 in Arlington, Virginia, to parents who emigrated from Ghana to the United States in the 1980s. He grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland, and graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School in 2012. He earned a bachelor's degree in government and public policy from the University of Baltimore in 2016, where he was student government president, and an MBA from American University in 2019.

Early career

Boafo began as a press intern for Congressman Xavier Becerra and later worked as national press assistant for Congressman Ruben Kihuen. From 2018 to 2021 he managed the re-election campaigns of Steny Hoyer. He also worked as a federal lobbyist for the technology company Oracle.

Bowie and the Maryland House of Delegates

In November 2019 he won a seat on the Bowie City Council for District 3, and the council made him mayor pro tempore, the youngest person to hold the post in the city. In 2022 he ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 23 and was sworn in on 11 January 2023. He was a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention and, in September 2024, founded GenBlue PAC to support Democratic congressional candidates.

2026 congressional race

When Hoyer announced his retirement, Boafo entered the race for the 5th District on 12 January 2026. He won the crowded Democratic primary on 23 June 2026 with about a third of the vote against more than 20 rivals. Some fellow Democrats criticised him for accepting support worth millions of dollars from the pro-crypto super PAC Protect Progress and from AIPAC's United Democracy Project. In the general election on 3 November 2026, unofficial results from the Maryland State Board of Elections showed him beating Republican Chris Chaffee by 68.5% to 30.9%.