Jawando holds lead in Democratic primary for MoCo executive, unofficial results show

Friedson in second place, Glass in third; many ballots still left to count

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June 23, 2026 9:57 p.m.

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Will Jawando has an early lead in the Democratic primary contest for Montgomery County executive with many votes still left to count Tuesday evening, unofficial results from the Maryland State Board of Elections show.

Jawando, an at-large member of the County Council, was in the lead with 38.3% as of 9:53 p.m. Behind Jawando is District 1 Councilmember Andrew Friedson with 35.9% of the vote. Councilmember At-large Evan Glass was third with nearly 22% of the vote.

The batch of results includes ballots cast during the early voting period and some mail-in ballots. It includes a small percentage of ballots cast in person on Election Day with 75 of 257 precincts reporting.

Jawando, Friedson and Glass are vying to succeed County Executive Marc Elrich (D), who cannot seek re-election due to term limits and is instead running for one of four council at-large seats. Elrich endorsed Jawando in the race.

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Jawando, who lives in Ashton, speaks often about his upbringing in the county, which included moving from apartment to apartment in search of affordability. On the council, he championed the county’s rent stabilization law, which limits annual rent increases at the region’s consumer price index plus 3% with a hard cap of 6% of the base rent.

The chair of the council’s Education and Culture Committee, Jawando has made schools central to his campaign and won the Montgomery County Education Association’s influential Apple Ballot endorsement.

Jawando has also received support from Gov. Wes Moore (D) and U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).

Friedson began his campaign for county executive with less name recognition than his main opponents, both of whom have been twice elected countywide. The only Democrat in the race using traditional campaign financing, Friedson has spent much of his war chest on advertising to boost his profile.

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Friedson was the only candidate in the county executive race to vote against the fiscal year 2027 operating budget, which included a controversial progressive income tax plan paid for by eliminating a tax credit for some homeowners. He has seized on affordability as a key issue in the race, promising no tax hikes and more housing if elected.

Glass, of Silver Spring, was the first member of the council to announce his candidacy for county executive. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBTQ+ person to hold the position.

During his campaign, Glass has sought to distinguish himself as a pragmatist who is willing to make the difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions necessary to reach consensus in government. He has at times accused his opponents in the race of “playing politics.”

Glass, who chairs the council’s Environment and Transportation Committee, has 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 claims to be the first candidate in the race to “sound the alarm” on data center development.

Other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination are Gaithersburg businessman Peter James and Mithun Banerjee, a landlord from Silver Spring. Both had less than 3% of the vote as of the first round of unofficial results. 

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Two candidates are competing for the Republican nomination: Friendship Heights attorney Shelly Skolnick and Esther Wells, a certified public accountant from Montgomery Village. As of the first round of results, Wells had 61% of her party’s vote to Skolnick’s 39%.

The winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.  

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine