Montgomery County Council member Will Jawando says he is running for U.S. Senate in Maryland in 2024.
Jawando, who was first elected to an at-large seat on the Montgomery County Council in 2018, made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
Jawando, an attorney and former Obama administration official, is among the first Democratic candidates to announce a run for the open Senate seat in what is expected to be a competitive and crowded primary.
Sen. Ben Cardin, 79, announced Monday he planned to step down at the end of his term. Cardin was elected to the seat in 2006 and, before that, served in the U.S. House for 20 years.
In the video, Jawando said he is running to fight against what he called the “big lie in America” that pits people against each other and says, “For me to do well, you have to do worse, that we can’t take care of each other and still prosper,” he said.
There’s a Big Lie in America — and it’s not about the 2020 election. It’s the idea that for some to get ahead, others have to be left behind.
Today, I’m launching a campaign for U.S. Senate because we need more progressive champions to squash the Big Lie and fight for you. pic.twitter.com/hVd5LgB6ub
— Will Jawando (@willjawando) May 2, 2023
“Big lie” is a phrase often used to refer to President Donald Trump’s discredited allegations about the 2020 election being stolen.
“I spent the last four years on the Montgomery County Council, serving over a million Marylanders fighting to get rents down, build more affordable housing and take on racial injustice to prove that lie wrong,” Jawando said in the ad.
Jawando was reelected to his at-large seat on the council last fall and chairs the Education and Culture Committee.
Montgomery County is Maryland’s most populous county with more than 1 million residents.
Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone, in Maryland’s 6th District, are also preparing to run, according to Maryland Matters.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland’s 8th District, is also cited as a possible candidate.
Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 in Maryland, which has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1980.
Last year, GOP leadership aggressively tried to recruit then-Gov. Larry Hogan to run against Sen. Chris Van Hollen, but Hogan declined, saying he didn’t “aspire” to be a U.S. senator. Hogan, who recently wrapped up his second and final term as governor, said in March that he would not seek the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
Jerome Segal, who unsuccessfully challenged Cardin during the 2018 Democratic primary and ran a longshot campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor last year, was the first Democrat to announce his candidacy for the open seat.
