County executive candidates discuss regional issues at Wheaton Collective forum

Youth concerns, redevelopment opportunities, public safety key concerns for area voters

March 30, 2026 10:35 a.m.

All seven candidates for Montgomery County executive participate in a candidate forum last week at the Wheaton Community Recreation Center. Credit: Ceoli Jacoby

For the first time this campaign season, all seven candidates for Montgomery County executive shared a stage during a candidate forum last week at the Wheaton Community Recreation Center.

Wednesday’s forum was organized by the Wheaton Collective — a group of local businesses, civic associations and chambers of commerce that includes the Glenmont Forest Neighbors Civic Association, IMPACT Silver Spring, the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce and others.

All five Democratic candidates and both Republican candidates for county executive participated in the forum.

The Democratic candidates for county executive include County Councilmembers Andrew Friedson (Dist. 1) and Evan Glass and Will Jawando (both At-large), as well as Silver Spring landlord Mithun Banerjee and Gaithersburg small business owner Peter James.

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The Republican candidates for county executive are Shelly Skolnick, an attorney from Friendship Heights, and Esther Wells, a certified public accountant from Montgomery Village who also is president of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League.

Marc Elrich (D), the current county executive, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election this year. He is instead seeking the Democratic nomination for one of four at-large council seats.

The primary election, during which voters select their party’s nominees, is June 23.

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Youth issues

Wells, who in 2022 ran an unsuccessful campaign to represent District 1 on the Montgomery County Board of Education, started the forum by taking aim at Jawando, who chairs the council’s Education and Culture Committee.

In response to a question about the strengths of the Wheaton-Glenmont community, Wells mentioned the area’s youth, who she argues are falling behind due to failures of the county’s current leadership.

“[Jawando] has been the chair of the Education and Culture Committee for the past four years and he’s been on the committee for eight years, and our Black and brown children continue to be left behind in this county,” Wells said. “We want to ensure that we are paying attention to who, truly, will be able to move us forward.”

Maryland State Department of Education data released in January showed that from 2024 to 2025, the four-year graduation rate for Hispanic/Latino students in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) decreased from about 86% to nearly 79%. The rate for Black/African American students declined slightly less than 1% year over year — from nearly 92% in 2024 to about 91% in 2025.

Wells, who is Black, argued that outcomes for Black and brown students could be improved by focusing more on career and technical education.

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“We know our Black and brown kids are good with our hands historically, and so I would really emphasize that our plumbers, our electricians, our mechanics are our future millionaires,” she said.

Jawando, who is also Black and whose four children attend Montgomery County public schools, said schools and education were the main reason he first got into public policy. The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), the local teachers union, is backing him in the race for county executive.

Asked about how to improve educational outcomes for Wheaton-Glenmont area youth, Jawando emphasized the importance of “wrap–around services” such as mental health supports and after-school programming.

“Absenteeism is one of the strongest drivers and predictors of low scores — if you’re not at school, you’re not going to learn. Food insecurity is another,” he said. “So these wraparound services are super important, and we have to protect them in the budget.”

Both Glass and Friedson echoed Jawando’s comments about providing resources for minority and economically disadvantaged students, with Friedson specifically calling for the school district to pursue more partnerships with nonprofit and faith-based youth organizations.

Skolnick said he would promote wider participation in school athletics, stating sports allows young people to interact with their peers and provides an incentive to do well in school.

Banerjee said if elected county executive, he would tie county spending on Montgomery County Public Schools to student outcomes. “Your students perform better, you get more money,” he said. “Your student doesn’t perform better, you don’t get more money.”

James said the county should overhaul its public education system with a focus on smaller facilities more akin to Montessori schools. “I want to turn these big giant schools into condos and build smaller, community-based schools,” he said. “We need to change that culture.”

Redevelopment and public safety

Public safety in the Wheaton-Glenmont neighborhood was another topic of interest at the county executive candidate forum.

In response to a question about safety at the Glenmont Shopping Center at 12331 Georgia Ave., which is slated for a potential redevelopment by the county, Friedson and Glass agreed that each store being owned by individual entities creates a barrier to change.

“In order for anything to change, you need every property owner to either sell or to agree to be assembled,” Glass said. “I have seen proposals, they’re very exciting, but it does take a county executive who wants the revitalization to occur.”

Friedson said the revitalization effort will require collaboration between the county executive and the councilmember for the district that includes Glenmont, as well as help from the state government. “If I am county executive, you will have that,” he said. The district is currently represented by Council President Natali Fani-González (D), who is seeking re-election to her seat this year.

Jawando compared the Glenmont Shopping Center to the Burtonsville Crossing shopping center near where he lives, which he said became something “pretty amazing” after the county came together with the state and a diverse set of entrepreneurs.

Skolnick said the county should encourage private owners of properties in the Glenmont Shopping Center to invest in surveillance cameras as a “preventative measure.” He also said the county needs to increase the area’s police presence “until the public is satisfied that it’s very, very safe to come here in the evenings and at other times.”

Wells said she would work closely with Montgomery County police Chief Marc Yamada if elected county executive, including by fully funding the county police department and ensuring there is adequate staffing.

Wells also said she supports collaboration between the county detention center and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a way to improve public safety. The county currently notifies ICE when someone deemed removable by the agency is charged with a violent crime, but formal agreements with ICE are prohibited under county law.

James said the county needs to “get the police out of the cars” and encourage them to interact with the communities they serve. Likewise, Banerjee said there needs to be “partnership between the police and the public” so information is freely shared between them.

Other issues relevant to the Wheaton-Glenmont community that came up during Wednesday’s forum, included the long-planned Wheaton arts and cultural center, threats to the area’s immigrant community and the controversial University Boulevard Corridor Plan approved by the council late last year.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine