At ‘final push’ rally, Jawando says he is maxed out on public matching funds
Plus: Use of ‘MoCo Dems’ by Realtors’ PAC encounters blowback from county Democratic committee; Glass runs TV ads as primary election nears
By
Ceoli Jacoby&
Louis PeckJune 3, 2026 11:42 a.m.
Share
Facebook X ReddIt Email Print Copy URL
Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) on Monday announced to a crowd of supporters that he has raised enough money in his bid for county executive to qualify for the maximum $870,170 available in public matching funds.
The announcement came during a rally at Silver Spring’s Zinnia featuring U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), who endorsed Jawando last month. Also in attendance were County Executive Marc Elrich (D) and Councilmembers Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5), Shebra Evans and Laurie-Anne Sayles (both D-At-large), among other elected officials.
“With your help in the last few days, we are the first campaign to max out the public financing,” Jawando said. “To do that, we had to raise almost $400,000 — so that puts us over $1.2 million for this race.”
Alsobrooks during the rally seemed to draw parallels between the Montgomery County executive race and her U.S. Senate run, in which she faced then-U.S. Rep. David Trone (D) in the primary election and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in the general election.
- Advertisement -
“I know a little something about races,” Alsobrooks said. “I understand that the people decide every one of these races. The dollars don’t decide — it doesn’t matter. Even the commercials don’t decide.”
Alsobrooks, who was then the Prince George’s County executive, defeated Trone in the 2024 Democratic primary despite Trone having spent more than $60 million in personal money on his campaign.
Trone, of Potomac, is now running to recapture his former seat representing Maryland’s 6th District. The primary election is June 23.
“I have great trust in the voters, who are savvy enough to decide for themselves who should represent them,” Alsobrooks said during Jawando’s rally, billed by the campaign as the candidate’s “final push.”
Sponsored
Featured Now
Jawando, along with Councilmembers Evan Glass (D-At-large) and Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1), is a front-runner in the race to succeed term-limited Elrich, who is seeking an at-large seat on the council.
Friedson is financing his campaign through private contributions alone and has raised more than $2.2 million since last June, according to his most recent campaign finance reports filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections.
Jawando and Glass are participating in the county’s public financing system, meaning small-dollar, private contributions they receive from county residents are matched with public funds up to a set maximum.
The most recent round of campaign finance reports covered the period from Jan. 15 to May 12. At the end of that period, Glass and Jawando were approaching the public election fund distribution limit, with Glass reporting enough money in donations to qualify for $745,489 in matching dollars and Jawando reporting enough to qualify for $795,786.
The next round of campaign finance reports are due June 12.
- Advertisement -
Once a candidate reaches the public election fund distribution limit, any additional campaign donations in that election cycle are not matched. If Glass or Jawando were to advance to the Nov. 3 general election, they would be eligible for an additional $870,170 in public funds.
What’s in a name? Use of ‘MoCo Dems’ by Realtors’ PAC encounters some blowback from county Democratic committee
On a Saturday early in May, a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) — as well as a member of the local party’s precinct organization — encountered canvassers going door-to-door wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the logo “MoCo Dems Who Will Fight For Us.”
However, the canvassers were not employed by the county Democratic Party, but rather by a political action committee affiliated with the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors, which has been running a so-called independent expenditure campaign on behalf of several candidates who the association has endorsed in advance of this month’s Democratic primary.
The episode immediately prompted blowback in some quarters of the county Democratic committee.
“Don’t be fooled by this misleading T-shirt,” Jim Michaels, a member of the MCDCC, declared via Facebook. “Canvassers were seen going door-to-door today in my District 16 wearing this T-shirt. They are paid canvassers who are handing out literature printed by the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR) to promote specific candidates endorsed by GCAAR.”
Literature handed out by the GCAAR canvassers promoted “Montgomery County Democrats who will fight for us” in large lettering, and included the names of several candidates endorsed by the association: District 1 Councilmember Andrew Friedson for county executive, and former MCDCC Chair Scott Goldberg, Gaithersburg City Councilmember Jim McNulty, and county Board of Education member Karla Silvestre for County Council at large.
In smaller lettering at the top, the flier advised the candidates are “GCAAR endorsed.”
MCDCC Chair Pam Luckett, in what she characterized as an effort “to bring clarity,” issued a statement about the episode during the committee’s May meeting and in its weekly newsletter.
“It was to make clear that this was not the central committee doing this — this was GCAAR that is not affiliated with the central committee in any way,” Luckett said in a phone interview. She noted “the central committee cannot endorse candidates” prior to the primary.
Although the terms “Montgomery County Democrats” or “MoCo Dems” have not been trademarked by the county Democratic committee, they are “still something that people often associate with the MCDCC,” Luckett said. She expressed concern that some voters could be confused by the GCAAR T-shirts and literature.
Nevertheless, Luckett opted not to raise the matter directly with GCAAR, and said she has no plans to do so.
“We put out our statement, and I think different people who may have some connection to [GCAAR] may have communicated it,” Luckett said. “I’ll leave it at that. I don’t see a need to get into a big back and forth. We just wanted to clarify that it was not us.”
The chair of GCAAR’s political action committee, Ed Krauze, did not respond to a call from Bethesda Today on Monday seeking comment. A GCAAR spokesperson provided Bethesda Today with a script used by canvassers when knocking on doors, in which a canvasser identifies as being “with the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors” and says “I’m in the neighborhood talking to voters about the upcoming County Council Democratic Primary on June 23rd.”
Glass goes on TV as primary nears
Evan Glass over the past week committed $362,050 toward TV advertising slots — joining opponent Andrew Friedson on the local airwaves with less than three weeks to go until the Democratic primary election for county executive.
As of Tuesday, the public access website for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shows the majority of Glass’ spending — $224,600 — is going toward ads on NBC4 that began running May 29 and will continue through June 22.
During the same period, the Glass campaign also is spending $82,475 to run ads on WUSA9 and $50,800 for ads on WJLA.
Also, the Glass campaign is spending $19,250 to run ads on FOX5 through June 8, according to the FCC public access website. The campaign also spent $4,900 to run ads on FOX5 Plus from May 28 through Tuesday.
As of the most recent round of campaign finance reports filed with the state elections board, which covered through May 12, the Friedson campaign had already lined up $562,500 worth of ads scheduled across all five major local broadcast TV stations.
This week, the FCC public access website shows, the Friedson campaign committed an additional $183,950 toward additional ads on NBC4, WUSA9, WJLA and FOX5. As of Tuesday, he had not committed to spending additional money on ads on FOX5 Plus.
As of Tuesday, the FCC public access website did not show any spending for ads on the five major local broadcast TV stations by Will Jawando’s campaign. Jawando is running ads on streaming services, but that spending is not required to be reported to the FCC.
Louis Peck, a contributing editor for Bethesda Magazine, can be reached at lou.peck@bethesdamagazine.com.
Digital Partners
Originally published at Bethesdamagazine