This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
As the June 23 primary approaches, the five Democrats seeking to become Montgomery County executive are appearing together at numerous candidate forums – sometimes at the rate of two a day.
Wednesday was one of those days, as all five took the stage to face a few dozen residents at the Riderwood Village senior community in Silver Spring in the afternoon before meeting again at a scheduled appearance in Bethesda with the two Republicans in the race.
Part of the 90-minute forum hosted by the Riderwood Democratic Club focused on the $8 billion fiscal 2027 budget proposed for the county by outgoing County Executive Marc Elrich (D). Elrich is seeking a 6.3-cent increase in the property tax and a 0.1% income tax increase to pay for the budget, which would fully fund the county’s 160,000-student public school system, the largest in the state.
Three of the candidates for executive – Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando – serve on the County Council that must decide on that budget. Elrich, who is term-limited as executive, is now running for an at-large seat on the 11-member council.
“I will not be supporting the tax increases that the county executive has proposed, but I will continue looking at the budget and finding ways to make it more efficient and finding reductions when necessary,” said Glass, an at-large councilmember.
Friedson, who represents District 1, noted that Wednesday was “Tax Day.” He said raising taxes “is completely unsustainable. We have to figure out a way to manage government. We have to be able to figure out a way to be more efficient with your taxpayer dollars.”
Jawando, an at-large councilmember, said life isn’t easy for residents under the county’s regressive tax system, noting that homeowners pay the same property tax rate as major county businesses such as Marriott, AstraZeneca, or a proposed data center. He said the county would need state authority to change the tax system, but that would be a priority for him as executive.
Two of the other Democratic candidates – landlord Mithun Banerjee and small business owner Peter James – don’t support the proposed tax increase.
Banerjee blamed his three councilmember opponents for not doing enough.
“If we are doing so good, why do you have to keep increasing taxes? These people are the ones at fault,” he said.
The candidates took questions from Maryland Matters founder Josh Kurtz, who moderated the forum, and from members of the audience, on affordable housing, public schools, the Viva White Oak development project and data centers.
Friedson said he helped expand the duties of the Office of Inspector General to include the school system. “I was proud to lead the effort,” he said.
Glass praised the school system, but said he will not “simply rubber stamp the school board’s budget,” which represents half of all county spending.
Banerjee said he would tie public school funding to school performance, or student outcomes. “Don’t do your performance, you don’t get your money,” he said.
James, who was the only person on stage to wear a T-shirt rather than a sports jacket, said more funding should go to Montessori schools.
“Who’s ever heard of a school shooting at a Montessori school? They have better outcomes, both in graduation rate and later in life,” said James, who graduated from Springbrook High School in 1973.
Jawando, who chairs the council’s Education and Culture Committee, said he’s visited more than half of the county’s schools. He also highlighted his endorsement from the powerful Montgomery County Education Association.
The candidates were finally asked to tell the audience their favorite Montgomery County restaurants. Banerjee said if someone would like something quick and affordable, “McDonald’s.”
According to the state Board of Elections, there were almost 404,000 registered Democrats in Montgomery County in March, compared to 100,040 registered Republicans and about 189,000 independents. That makes the winner of the June 23 Democratic primary a heavy favorite to win the Nov. 3 general election.
But that hasn’t stopped two Republican candidates, Shelly Skolnick, an attorney, and Esther Wells, a certified public accountant, from filing paperwork to run in the GOP primary.
All seven candidates were scheduled to appear at a candidate’s forum Wednesday evening hosted by the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights, a nonpartisan coalition that represents about 20,000 residents in the southwest part of the county.
The state Board of Elections show Arian Borghei has filed as a write-in candidate in the general election.
