Hutzell: Chris Van Hollen’s got a list. Talarico tops it, Boafo is at the bottom.

Did you miss James Talarico’s party?

Or maybe you accepted U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s invitation to help the Texas state lawmaker win one of this year’s highest-profile Senate races.

Admission to the Friday night soirée at mega-donors Lori and Jeffrey Denzer’s home in Potomac started at $500. But if you kicked in $10,500 — oh, what a night. Right?

It certainly was for Van Hollen.

The senator from Montgomery County has a list, and right now, Talarico is at the top. It reflects both his assessment of the fall elections and growing national status.

Van Hollen is a leader of Democrats who want to scrap in the era of President Donald Trump. He formed Fight Club, a group of senators who pushed back on party leaders’ efforts to keep the progressive-moderate split from playing out in the primaries.

“The Fight Club is a group that thinks we need candidates, Democratic candidates, who are willing to shake things up,” Van Hollen told me Thursday afternoon. “They recognize that voters are unhappy with the status quo.”

Like every list, however, if there is a top, there must be a bottom.

That’s where Adrian Boafo finds himself this weekend, or at least that’s where Van Hollen puts the groups spending millions to send the Maryland state delegate to Congress.

“I want to alert voters in Maryland’s 5th congressional district about the flood of outside special interest super PAC money that is coming into that district in support of one candidate, Adrian Boafo,” Van Hollen announced in a news conference hours before we talked.

Every politician has friends he wants to see win, and causes he wants defeated.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Van Hollen — still somewhat new to the role of leading progressive voice — turned out to be very good at converting his choices into action.

Maryland’s senior senator won’t be on the ballot until 2028, and he already has $3 million in the bank for his next campaign. In the past, he’s demonstrated a talent for raising money as past chair of Democratic campaign organizations in both the House and Senate.

The Van Hollen Talarico Victory Fund is one of four joint committees he set up to help win control of the Senate and advance ideas he supports. They ​are a powerful tool that slips past the $7,000 cap on individual donations.

It’s 53-47 now. If Democrats hold their current seats and pick up three, it’s 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance getting the tie vote.

If they pick up four, they get a one-seat majority.

Donors’ maximum contribution expands with the number of candidates in a joint fund. Two candidates double the total allowed.

Van Hollen launched similar funds with U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Ossoff is perhaps the most vulnerable Democrat in the Senate, while the others hope to flip Republican seats.

The Van Hollen Ossoff Victory Fund raised $260,000 in a single night last year. The Drenzers — whose fortune is based on healthcare IT — each gave the maximum $14,000. So did investment banker Brian O’Halloran and former Assistant Secretary of State Judith McHale.

“Those are events that I organized, and they’ve been successful at raising funds for these candidates,” Van Hollen said.

Joint funds aren’t the only way he boosts the top of his list.

He’s contributed directly to Senate incumbents Mark Warner of Virginia, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Corey Booker of New Jersey, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Chris Coons of Delaware.

He’s given money to Scott Colom, the Black ​Mississippi prosecutor whose judicial nomination was blocked by Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom’s trying to unseat her in November.

And Van Hollen’s backed two lieutenant governors for Senate: Julianna Stratton for retiring Sen. Dick Durbin’s Illinois seat, and Peggy Flanagan in the Minnesota primary for retiring Democrat Tina Smith’s spot.

Next weekend, he’s the keynote speaker at the Cheshire County Democrats’ spaghetti dinner in Keene, New Hampshire. He’ll talk up U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas for the state’s September primary.

“It’s a mix of incumbents who are up for reelection and challengers,” Van Hollen said.

He made one rare House pick in Pennsylvania for state lawmaker Chris Rabb, a Democratic Socialist running in a deep-blue Philadelphia district.

Then he issued a caution Thursday for Boafo.

Van ​Hollen isn’t specifically saying not to vote for the Prince George’s County lawmaker. He calls it a warning in the race to replace retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer.

That’s a distinction probably lost on voters.

The June 23 primary has a crowded field, including former Capitol Hill police officer Harry Dunn, former County Executive Rushern Baker and entrepreneur Quincy Bareebe.

Thursday morning, Van Hollen attacked AIPAC, the pro-Israeli lobby, and Protect Our Progress, a cryptocurrency PAC, for putting millions behind Boafo. The senator is a vocal critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and efforts to remove safeguards on crypto markets.

“Understand that the organizations running the ads have their own special interests at heart, not the public interests, not the interests of the people of Maryland’s 5th Congressional District,” he said.

The biggest takeaway of Van Hollen’s actions, though, isn’t whom he supports.

He hasn’t given money to Graham Platner, the scandal-bait oysterman hoping to flip Susan Collins’ seat in Maine. He said he plans to.

If Van Hollen picks winners in Ohio, Texas, Illinois and North Carolina, Democrats could take the Senate majority.

He’ll support the 1st District primary winner in Maryland, where Dan Schwartz is the likely challenger to Rep. Andy Harris in the state’s lone GOP district.

The meaningful thing is Van Hollen’s willingness to use his rising profile and deep-pocket network to advance candidates he supports.

“I may do more,” he said. “I mean, there’s more time left on the calendar. I’d have to figure out which other candidates really need help.”