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Glass concedes to Jawando in Democratic primary for MoCo executive

With all precincts reporting early Wednesday, candidate was in third place with about 22% of the vote June 24, 2026 5:45 p.m. 5:50 p.m. Evan Glass, who in May 2025 became thefirst candidate to announce a runfor Montgomery County executive, has bowed...

Dan Murphy • •3 min read
Glass concedes to Jawando in Democratic primary for MoCo executive
Government & Politics

Glass concedes to Jawando in Democratic primary for MoCo executive 

With all precincts reporting early Wednesday, candidate was in third place with about 22% of the vote 

By

Ceoli Jacoby

June 24, 2026 5:45 p.m. | Updated: June 24, 2026 5:50 p.m.

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    Evan Glass delivers remarks to supporters during his election night watch party, reflecting on his campaign.
    Evan Glass delivers remarks to supporters during his election night watch party in Rockville. Photo credit: Elia Griffin

    Evan Glass, who in May 2025 became the first candidate to announce a run for Montgomery County executive, has bowed out of the race for the county’s top job. 

    In a Wednesday afternoon statement posted to social media, Glass said he had been following the results of Tuesday’s Democratic primary election and, as a former CNN journalist, recognized that “the hill is too steep to climb” for him to win. 

    “What we fought for — improving our schools, expanding housing opportunities, and protecting our most vulnerable neighbors — will not end with this one election,” Glass said in the statement. “These are the challenges that the next County Executive and Council must take on urgently together.” 

    Glass told Bethesda Today in a text message Wednesday afternoon that he called his fellow At-large County Councilmember Will Jawando on Tuesday night to concede. Jawando had yet to officially claim victory as of Wednesday, saying during his Tuesday night watch party in downtown Silver Spring that “we’re not done yet, but we’re excited about where we are.” 

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    As of Wednesday, unofficial results from the Maryland State Board of Elections showed Glass was third place with about 22% of the vote. District 1 Councilmember Andrew Friedson was second with 33.5% of the vote, while Jawando was leading with 40.8%. 

    Glass, who is originally from Long Island, New York, but has adopted Silver Spring as his hometown, had aimed to become the first openly LGBTQ+ county executive. He first won election to the council in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022.

    During his campaign for county executive, Glass sought to distinguish himself as a pragmatist willing to make the difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions necessary to reach consensus in government. At times, he accused his opponents in the race of “playing politics” with important issues. 

    Glass, who chairs the council’s Environment and Transportation Committee, also emphasized his commitment to furthering the county’s climate goals. He won the endorsement of the county chapter of the Sierra Club, a prominent conservation group, and proudly claimed to be the first candidate in the race to “sound the alarm” on data center development in the county. 

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    In his statement Wednesday, Glass appeared to reference efforts by political action committees and other outside groups to boost his main opponents in the county executive race. Glass was the only candidate in the race who has never funded a campaign through private donations alone — Friedson has always used traditional financing, while Jawando has gone back and forth between traditional financing and public campaign financing. 

    “If we want a democracy that truly reflects the voices of our community, we must continue fighting for reforms that reduce the influence of big money in politics and empower every voter with ranked choice voting,” Glass said in his statement. 

    Glass, like Jawando and Friedson, had to forgo a run for a third term on the County Council to run for county executive. He will serve the remainder of his second term before the swearing in of the next council in December. 

    Unlike Glass, Friedson had not conceded to Jawando as of Wednesday afternoon. During his watch party near downtown Silver Spring on Tuesday night, he seemed to be holding out hope that remaining mail-in ballots could change the outcome in his favor. 

    “We’re definitely trailing a bit. But there’s a lot more votes to be counted,” Friedson said in a speech to his supporters around 11 p.m. Tuesday. “We’re winning the mail-in votes. We think there’s still tens of thousands of mail-in votes to be counted.” 

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    As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, data from the state board of elections show, just 47,499 of the 126,522 mail-in ballots sent to Montgomery County voters had been received by the county board of elections. Results from the first mail-in ballot canvass show Friedson received 6,691 votes to Jawando’s 5,291.  

    Glass remained in third when it came to the first mail-in ballot canvass with 4,203 votes. The counting of mail-in ballots overseen by the county elections board will resume Thursday at 10 a.m. 

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    Originally published at Bethesdamagazine