In Politics: Hoyer Votes A Hoyer-Free Ballot, Percy Convicted, Schmoke Steps Down

By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

June 18, 2026

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) showed up at the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department Wednesday morning and did something he hasn’t done since the early 1980s — voted for someone other than Steny Hoyer for the 5th District seat.

“For the first time in 60 years I’m not on the ballot,” Hoyer said to election workers at the early voting center after casting his ballot for Del. Adrian Boafo (D-Prince George’s), whom he endorsed to succeed him in the district that includes St. Mary’s, Charles and Calvert counties and parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties.

Hoyer announced in January he wouldn’t seek reelection to the seat he has held for 45 years. Hoyer, who celebrated his 87th birthday Sunday, was first elected to the state Senate in 1966, at age 27.

He was greeted at the voting center by Election Judge Erin Sears, who thanked Hoyer for his service and for helping her husband to keep his federal job at the Smithsonian. “I’m going to miss you,” Sears said to Hoyer, who greeted and shook hands with the more than a dozen other election workers.

Hoyer almost left without an “I voted early” sticker to place on his shirt.

“Thank you all for what you’re doing,” he said, before hugging Sears and kissing her cheek.

After voting,. Hoyer stood outside and summarized his support for Boafo, the 32-year-old state delegate from Bowie who served as mayor pro tem during his first time in office and who worked as Hoyer’s campaign manager from 2019 to 2021.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) talks about his support for Del. Adrian Boafo (D-Prince George’s), right, after voting early at the Mechanicsville VFD Wednesday. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
“It’s time to turn it over to a new generation, and that’s what I’m doing with Adrian,” he said. “Adrian Boafo, I think, is going to make a real impact in the Congress in the United States. The good news is he’s going to be there for a long time.”

Hoyer addressed the recent attacks on Boafo from three opponents in the crowded Democratic primary – local businesswoman Quincy Bareebe, former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn – who say $8 million in “dark money” has supported Boafo’s campaign. He said he is confident the nomination will go to Boafo, who he said has kept his campaign messaging positive.

“I am really concerned that some people are questioning his integrity, and by reference, mine,” Hoyer said. “Why are they going after him? Because he’s leading. The leader of the pack always gets those running behind and barking at his heels, nipping at his heels.

He said Boafo has “accomplished a great deal already for Southern Maryland and our state and will accomplish a great deal for our nation.”

Boafo, who joined Hoyer Wednesday, said his main focus is talking with voters.

“We’re focused on making sure that we’re out here talking to real people who are really concerned about what this [Trump] administration is doing in Washington,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to do for the next six days.”

The last day of early voting is Thursday with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Primary election day is Tuesday.

Lobbyist convicted in insurance fraud

Davion Percy, a former Prince George’s County government worker who lobbied for several years in Annapolis before opening his own shop in National Harbor, was convicted by a federal jury this week of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a faked car theft.
Davion E. Percy
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland said Percy was chief of the Marlow Heights Special Police Department when he conspired with Prince George’s County Police Officer Michael Anthony Owen and Maryland National Capital Police Officer Conrad D’Haiti between December 2019 and February 2020 to stage the theft of D’Haiti’s Jaguar XKR, which had developed “significant mechanical issues.”

Prosecutors said that on Jan. 4, 2020, D’Haiti paid $350 to Percy, who told him to park the Jaguar behind the Marlow Heights Shopping Center. Percy then arranged for the car to be towed and extensively vandalized.

D’Haiti and Owen filed a false theft report with Prince George’s Police, which D’Haiti used to file a claim, prosecutors said. The vandalized car was discovered in Marlow Heights on Jan. 23, 2020, by a special investigator for Liberty Mutual, which paid Navy Federal Credit Union, the car’s lienholder, $17,585 on the false claim, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Owen pleaded guilty a year ago to falsification of records in the Jaguar claim and in similar staged car thefts around the same time, prosecutors said.

Percy was a lobbyist in Annapolis for several years, and was vice president for government relations at Alexander & Cleaver when he left in 202o to open his own firm in National Harbor. Calls Wednesday to the number listed for Percy Public Affairs did not go through, and Percy’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a emailed request for comment. At trial, he said he is working as a lobbyist, but he was not included in the state’s most recent list of registered lobbyists.

Percy faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison at sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Schmoke retiring next year

After serving as president at the University of Baltimore since July 2014, Kurt Schmoke plans to step down next year.

Schmoke, the city’s first elected Black mayor, who served from 1987 to 1999, actually wanted to retire last year after the university celebrated its centennial.

“A couple of people asked me to stay, but I indicated to them my plan to step down” in 2027, he said in an interview Wednesday. “The university has a lot of momentum coming out of the centennial year. A lot of publicity about the place, ideas on how the university impacts Baltimore.”

But the president said challenges remain, including one facing many colleges and universities nationwide: declining enrollment. University of Baltimore currently has about 3,200 students, a little more than half of the 6,000 students who were enrolled when Schmoke became president 12 years ago.

A December report from the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education in Boulder, Colorado, offered some recommendations to help boost enrollment, such as reducing postsecondary education costs, enhancing student advisement through high school counselors and addressing academic gaps in terms of race, geography and income.

Even with enrollment challenges, Schmoke said the university has been able to avoid layoffs. One reason, Schmoke said, is the school isn’t designated as an “R-1,” or a high-intensity research institution that may rely on some federal grants.

Another report recommendation that the University of Baltimore, also known as UBalt, has embraced is focusing on attracting adult learners. Schmoke said the university has three unique programs toward that goal.

The Schaefer Center on Public Policy, named after former mayor, comptroller and governor, William Donald Schaefer (D), provides various leadership and professional development programs for government officials and nonprofit organizations. And the school’s Second Chance College Program provides post-secondary education for incarcerated individuals at Jessup Correctional Institution.

The university also houses the Baltimore City Police Education and Training Center, which Schmoke said benefits the recruitment and retention of officers “that benefits the city of Baltimore. As you have seen, crime rates have gone down. We think that we have been a partner in that effort.”

In the meantime, Schmoke said the goal is to continue improving the university’s programs and keep a steady enrollment of at least 3,000.

“We’re still focused on the future,” he said. “We’re not resting on the legacy. We’re going to build on the legacy. It’s a lot more to get done.”

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