Friedson spending big on advertising in campaign for MoCo executive

Glass, Jawando both approaching public election fund distribution limit weeks out from June 23 primary election

May 21, 2026 1:15 p.m.

Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) presents a proclamation recognizing Affordable Housing Month. Credit: Benjamin Sky Brandt for the Montgomery County Council.

Democrat Andrew Friedson is spending big in his bid for Montgomery County executive, reporting nearly $1 million for advertising buys among his expenditures in the latest round of campaign finance reports that were due Tuesday.

According to Friedson’s report with the Maryland State Board of Elections, the District 1 County Councilmember had $755,941 in his campaign account six weeks out from the June 23 primary election. The report covered the period from Jan. 15 to May 12.

Friedson had more cash on hand than his leading primary opponents, At-large Councilmembers Will Jawando and Evan Glass. They ended the most recent reporting period with $709,475 and $648,074 on hand, respectively, according to their campaigns.

“Despite being the last of the major candidates to launch his county executive campaign, Andrew’s momentum has been unmatched,” Friedson’s campaign manager John Block wrote in a Wednesday statement to Bethesda Today.

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Block added that a “groundswell of community backing” put the campaign in an “exceptionally strong financial position” and allowed Friedson to commit more than $2 million toward paid communications since launching his county executive bid last June.

Friedson is financing his campaign through private contributions. 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.

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Public vs. private campaign financing

In the public financing system, candidates for county executive receive $7 for each dollar of the first $50 of a qualifying contribution from a county resident, $4 per dollar for the second $50 and $2 per dollar for the third $50 from the public election fund.

Spending on ads

Of the $2.01 million Friedson reported spending since launching his campaign, $1.7 million was spent in the four-month period covered by the most recent report.

By far, the largest expenditure in Friedson’s most recent campaign finance report was a $945,846 payment to Screen Strategies Media, an advertising agency based in Fairfax, Virginia.

The public access website for the Federal Communications Commission shows that Screen Strategies Media has already lined up $562,500 worth of ads on behalf of Friedson’s campaign as of Wednesday. The spending was spread across several local TV stations, including:

NBC4: $270,150

WJLA: $126,100

FOX5: $113,050

WUSA9: $33,950

FOX5 Plus: $19,250

Friedson is also running ads on streaming services, but those expenditures are not available through the FCC website. According to the Meta ad library, Friedson’s campaign spent approximately $81,500 to run advertisements on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook during the period covered by the recent campaign finance reports.

According to his recent filings with the state elections board, Jawando’s campaign has paid a total of $195,545 to GMMB, a Washington, D.C.-based communications firm, for online advertising. That’s out of a total of $270,126 spent between Jan. 15 and May 18.

Glass’ campaign spent a total of $195,144 between Jan. 15 and May 12, according to his recent filings with the state elections board. That includes $40,881 the campaign paid to New Blue Interactive of Washington, D.C., for online advertising.

Meta’s ad library shows the Glass campaign spent approximately $5,900 to run ads on social media between Feb. 18 and May 18. Jawando’s campaign spent $5,500 to run advertisements on Meta’s social media platforms during the same period, according to the ad library.

As of Wednesday, the FCC public access website did not show any ad buys for Glass or Jawando on any of the major local television stations where Friedson has purchased slots.

According to Glass’ filings, his second-largest single expense during the recent reporting period was $39,400 for a poll conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Impact Research.

Other candidates

Two other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive — Silver Spring project manager Mithun Banerjee and Gaithersburg businessman Peter James — sought to participate in the public financing system.

However, neither Banerjee nor James had raised enough money to qualify for matching dollars as of April 30, the date of the last public election fund distribution report.

Two candidates are seeking the Republican nomination for county executive. Both are participating in traditional campaign financing. They are Esther Wells, a certified public accountant from Montgomery Village, and Friendship Heights Attorney Shelly Skolnick.

According to Wells’ most recent campaign finance report, she raised $6,950 and spent $4,601 on her county executive bid between Jan. 15 and May 12. She also loaned her campaign $1,000 carried over $161 from a prior run for office, leaving her with $3,510 six weeks out from the primary election.

Skolnick filed an affidavit with the state elections board saying he has not raised or spent more than $1,000 in connection with his campaign since Jan. 15.

The next round of required campaign finance reports is due June 12.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine