{"id":23641,"date":"2026-06-04T16:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/van-hollen-blasts-aipac-crypto-spending-for-hoyers-chosen-successor\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T16:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:17:14","slug":"van-hollen-blasts-aipac-crypto-spending-for-hoyers-chosen-successor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/van-hollen-blasts-aipac-crypto-spending-for-hoyers-chosen-successor\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Hollen blasts AIPAC, crypto spending for Hoyer\u2019s chosen successor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sen. Chris Van Hollen is slamming the pro-Israel lobby and crypto industry for pouring millions of dollars into the race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer, accusing the special-interest groups of trying to \u201cbuy this congressional seat\u201d in their state.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters need to understand that these groups are not investing in this race out of charity,\u201d the Maryland Democratic senator said in a virtual press conference Thursday. \u201cThey are spending because they believe the beneficiary of their spending \u2014 in this case, one candidate, Adrian Boafo \u2014 will be a dependable vote in support of their special interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee\u2019s super PAC, United Democracy Project, has spent over $1 million<\/u><\/a> on ads and mailers boosting state Del. Adrian Boafo, a former Hoyer aide who the retiring member has endorsed, in Maryland\u2019s 5th District. A pro-crypto super PAC, Protect Progress, has spent over $3 million<\/u><\/a>, per federal campaign finance filings.<\/p>\n

Both groups have run ads promoting Boafo\u2019s roster of high-profile endorsements, including Hoyer, Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), along with his legislative efforts around immigration and affordability. None of the ads mention Israel or crypto.<\/p>\n

Van Hollen, who is considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, criticized those omissions. He said he has \u201cnothing against\u201d Boafo but that \u201cvoters need to be aware of the fact that these outside groups do not have the voters\u2019 interests at heart.\u201d And he called on candidates benefitting from outside spending to release any \u201cquestionnaires or other communications they’ve had with these groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candidates cannot coordinate with super PACs. Boafo, in a statement, said he agrees with Van Hollen that \u201cbig money has no place in politics. It\u2019s why I\u2019ll work with him in Congress to end Citizens United once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for United Democracy Project, said in a statement that Van Hollen is \u201cdeliberately misrepresenting our views and discriminating against millions of pro-Israel Democrats who are members of AIPAC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Hollen has not endorsed in the Democratic primary for Hoyer\u2019s seat, which also includes Nancy Pelosi-backed<\/u><\/a> former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn. But he has become critical of dark money in Democratic <\/u><\/a>primaries<\/u><\/a>. He has also been an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and has pushed his party to condition arms sales to the country<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

AIPAC has spent heavily in Maryland before<\/u><\/a>. Asked specifically why AIPAC\u2019s interventions have become such a lightning rod in Democratic politics, Van Hollen, who has close ties to rival organization J Street, said that while AIPAC remains a “formidable force\u201d on Capitol Hill, its pro-Israel positions have become \u201cdiscredited\u201d with voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that AIPAC’s position of providing unconditional American taxpayer support for the government of Israel is not a popular position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Chris Van Hollen is slamming the pro-Israel lobby and crypto industry for pouring millions of dollars into the race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer, accusing the special-interest groups of trying to \u201cbuy this congressional seat\u201d in their state. \u201cVoters need to understand that these groups are not investing in this race out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}