ANNAPOLIS — For the first time since 1981, Southern Maryland is sending someone other than Steny Hoyer to Congress. Democrat Adrian Boafo holds a commanding lead for the 5th Congressional District seat, even as two of the district’s three Southern Maryland counties voted for his Republican opponent.
Boafo, a 32-year-old state delegate from Prince George’s County, had 187,218 votes, or 68.5%, to 84,348 votes, or 30.9%, for Republican Chris Chaffee, according to unofficial returns from the Maryland State Board of Elections last refreshed at 9:21 a.m. Wednesday. All 227 Election Day precincts in the district had reported.
The results remain unofficial. Mail-in and provisional ballots are still being counted, and provisional ballots were listed as not reported in every county. Boafo’s lead of nearly 103,000 votes, however, leaves Chaffee little room.
A district divided by county lines
The 5th District covers all of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties plus parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel. The state’s county breakdown shows how differently those places voted.
| County | Boafo (D) | Chaffee (R) |
|---|---|---|
| Calvert | 14,965 (44.2%) | 18,806 (55.5%) |
| Charles | 43,851 (74.3%) | 14,888 (25.2%) |
| St. Mary’s | 15,290 (41.9%) | 21,071 (57.7%) |
| Prince George’s | 77,497 | 7,668 |
| Anne Arundel | 35,615 | 21,915 |
| Total | 187,218 (68.5%) | 84,348 (30.9%) |
Chaffee won St. Mary’s by about 5,800 votes and Calvert by about 3,800. Charles more than erased both margins on its own, giving Boafo a lead of nearly 29,000 votes there.
Across the three Southern Maryland counties combined, Boafo led 74,106 to 54,765. The Prince George’s portion of the district alone produced 77,497 votes for Boafo, more than all three Southern Maryland counties together.
The split mirrors the rest of the ballot. Calvert and St. Mary’s voters also favored Republican Dan Cox over Gov. Wes Moore, while Charles backed Moore by more than 40 points, according to the Charles County results. The Chronicle’s county-by-county returns for Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s show the same pattern in local races.
The end of the Hoyer era
Hoyer, a former House majority leader, has represented the district since 1981 and is retiring. He endorsed Boafo early, and Boafo went on to beat a field of 24 Democrats in the June primary, WJLA reported. Moore also endorsed him. The Associated Press reported that a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent more than $1 million supporting his primary campaign.
Chaffee won a three-way Republican primary over Bryan DuVal and Michelle Talkington. This was not his first major race. In 2022, he was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate against Chris Van Hollen and took 29.7% of the vote in Charles County, according to official 2022 results. Against Boafo, his Charles share fell to 25.2%.
For Southern Maryland, the change means a new representative will handle issues Hoyer worked for decades, including Naval Air Station Patuxent River, the Naval Support Facility Indian Head and federal funding for the region’s growth.
Counting is not finished. In St. Mary’s, the county Board of Elections scheduled a post-Election Day mail-in canvass for Thursday, Nov. 5, a provisional ballot canvass for Nov. 12 and a final canvass for Nov. 13, according to a county news release. Boafo would be sworn in with the new Congress in January.
