Elections

Who is running in MoCo courthouse races in the primary election?

Voters to cast ballots for sheriff, circuit court judge, state’s attorney, register of wills and clerk of the court

By

Elia Griffin

June 12, 2026 1:34 p.m.

Share

Facebook X ReddIt Email Print Copy URL

With early voting underway for the June 23 gubernatorial primary election, Montgomery County residents can head to the polls to cast votes in races for county, state and federal offices.

Five of those races are centered around posts based in the Montgomery County Circuit Court: sheriff, circuit court judge, state’s attorney, clerk of the court and register of wills.

In two of those primary races — state’s attorney and clerk of the court – the candidates are running unopposed. However, other races are contested, including for the county’s register of wills following the August death of the former longtime register Joe Griffin, who had been seeking re-election.

Voters also will decide whether to re-elect Sheriff Maxwell Uy to a second term or to choose challenger Will Milam. The contentious race has been dominated by criticism from the local union representing sheriff deputies that Uy has cultivated a toxic work environment for deputies and the office needs a leadership change – Uy disputes the claims. The union has endorsed Milam.

- Advertisement -

Here is a look at the candidates running in the five courthouse races:

Sheriff

Uy, who was elected in 2022, is facing off against Milam, a Poolesville resident and retired assistant sheriff for Prince George’s County. Both candidates are Democrats.

The county sheriff’s office oversees criminal warrant service, courthouse security and criminal transport, responses to domestic violence matters and child support enforcement, among other responsibilities, according to the county website.

Uy, a Clarksburg resident, became the first Asian American to hold the position in the county when he was elected to a four-year term. He has been an employee of the sheriff’s office since 1994 and moved up through the ranks before being elected to the top position.

Sponsored

Honoring the Service of Native American Women at the National Museum of the American Indian

Sokolow Architects Leads Coastal Design for DC-Area Homeowners

Featured Now

Since June 2025, Uy has faced major backlash from the local union representing sheriff’s office deputies, UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO, which alleged that Uy cultivated a toxic and hostile work environment, retaliated against employees and has not responsibly handled staffing shortages.

The union also has said morale is low among deputies and sheriff’s office employees are “leaving in droves.” In addition, the union also accused Uy of mishandling state child support funds. In September, nearly 80% of union members in the sheriff’s office participated in a vote of no confidence in Uy’s leadership, the union said.

Uy has acknowledged that some of his decisions related to a staffing shortage may have impacted employee morale during his first term, but he has maintained that the union’s public criticisms are inaccurate and “misleading.” He also has said that he has “no confidence” in the union’s no confidence vote.

“When you listen to how this has been continually regurgitated, no data is ever presented. … There is friction and division being pushed to create a better landscape for my opponent,” Uy said during a May 13 candidate forum hosted by the Democratic Club of Leisure World.

In response to Uy’s dismissal of the union’s claims, Milam said, “leaders don’t just write off the concerns of their employees. Leaders don’t just dismiss 80% of their workforce saying there’s a problem; leaders tackle those challenges head on.”

- Advertisement -

Milam has repeated many of the union’s criticisms against Uy in his campaign and said that he will help to turn the office around. If elected, Milam said his key priorities are addressing workplace culture, improving staffing and focusing on expanding the office’s services with a dedicated domestic violence intervention unit. He has also discussed reforming the county’s eviction process.

Uy has spent much of the campaign defending his performance and leadership, but has noted that recruiting efforts remain a major priority for his office if re-elected, as well as maintaining the office’s services despite staffing challenges. Although Uy has reported in recent forums that his office has made improvements to staff attrition. In his candidate questionnaire for the Bethesda Today Voters Guide, Uy also said that he would prioritize the office’s relationship with the county’s immigrant communities.

Circuit Court judges

Five candidates are running for four seats on the Montgomery County Circuit Court. This is a nonpartisan race, which was a topic of discussion by the candidates at a late May forum hosted by the Leisure World Democratic Club in Leisure World in Silver Spring.

Four of the candidates running are sitting judges–Sharon Burrell, Victor Del Pino, James Dietrich and Catherine McQueen–who are running as a slate. The fifth candidate is Rockville attorney Marylin Pierre, who is running for the bench for the fifth time.

Burrell, an associate judge, has held her position on the bench since her appointment in October 2008, according to the Maryland State Archives. She became the first Black female judge when appointed by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), according to the Montgomery County Commission for Women.

Del Pino, a former Montgomery County district court judge since 2019, was appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) to the Circuit Court bench in January. Prior to his appointment and serving as a district court judge, Del Pino was a private practice attorney and a county prosecutor, according to a press release announcing his appointment. While at the county state’s attorney’s office, he was the first Latino to be chief of the office’s gang prosecution unit.

In September, Moore appointed Dietrich, a former assistant state’s attorney for the county, to the Circuit Court bench. Dietrich served as a county prosecutor for seven years and is also an adjunct professor at the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Dietrich has prosecuted recent high-profile cases such as the trial involving Alex Ye, the former Thomas S. Wootton High School student. Ye was sentenced to a year in prison following his January 2025 conviction on a charge of threat of mass violence related to his manifesto describing plans for a school shooting.

McQueen was appointed by Moore to the bench in October 2024. Before becoming an associate judge, McQueen was a private practice attorney for more than two decades with a primary focus on family law. McQueen has noted she has been ruling on family law cases since her appointment to the bench.

Pierre, a Haitian immigrant and graduate of Howard University School of Law, has practiced as an attorney in the county for more than 30 years. She made unsuccessful runs for a seat on the county Circuit Court bench in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Before becoming an attorney, Pierre served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves, according to her campaign website.

Pierre has frequently criticized the state judicial nominating commission’s vetting process for circuit court judges, which requires the commission to send nominations to the governor to fill a court vacancy. She argues it is important for voters to choose judges themselves.

Maryland judges who are appointed by the governor must stand for election to a 15-year term in the next general election occurring one year after their nomination to the court, according to the state constitution.

State’s attorney

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy is unopposed in his bid for re-election to his sixth four-year term as the county’s chief prosecutor. After filing to run in the Democratic primary with the state elections board in February 2025, McCarthy, 74, told Bethesda Today that he still has the “energy and vision” to keep leading the office.

The primary responsibility of the office is the investigation and prosecution of criminal defendants. The state’s attorney is an independently elected state official who leads the office in four-year terms.

McCarthy was elected to his first term in 2006. He is the only candidate from either political party to file for the 2026 election.

The Rockville resident joined the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office in 1980, where he later became a public defender. In 1982, McCarthy joined the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. From 1996 to 2006, McCarthy served as the county deputy state’s attorney, according to the office’s website.

During his time in office, McCarthy has worked to establish the office’s gang prosecution unit, a truancy court and the county’s Mental Health Courts, which aim to divert defendants who have committed low-level crimes due to mental illness into treatment instead of jail, according to the office’s website. He has also handled many high-profile cases, such as the investigation into the so-called Beltway snipers who terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002 and a 2011 murder at a Lululemon Athletica store in downtown Bethesda.

McCarthy did not respond Thursday to Bethesda Today’s request for comment about his candidacy or provide a response to Bethesda Today’s voters guide candidate questionnaire.

In February, McCarthy told Bethesda Today that some of his top issues regarding public safety revolved around schools and determining how best to handle juveniles who enter the justice system. McCarthy has said he believes the county’s school resource officer program should be reinstated. McCarthy’s office has also been involved in a truancy prevention program for county students and efforts to prevent elder abuse and financial scams that target seniors and promote safe teen dating.

Clerk of the Circuit Court

Karen Bushell is also unopposed in her run for re-election as clerk of the Montgomery County Circuit Court. Bushell, 61, was first elected to the post for a four-year term in 2022. Before that, Bushell was appointed to clerk of the Circuit Court in 2021 and was the county chief deputy clerk for seven years.

The general duties of the job are multifaceted and involve issuing marriage and business licenses, performing civil marriage ceremonies and maintaining documents such as land deeds, mortgages and record plats. In addition, the clerk administers the oath of office to elected officials, judges, police and sheriff officers, fire department members, assistant and deputy state’s attorneys and gubernatorial appointees.

Bushell, a Gaithersburg resident, said in her Bethesda Today voters guide candidate questionnaire that she was running for re-election because she wanted to “continue building on the progress we have made in improving efficiency, modernizing operations, and providing excellent customer service to the public and legal community in Montgomery County.”

If elected, Bushell said her priorities for the upcoming term would be improving efficiency and customer service; using technology to better serve the public, the courts and legal community; and strengthening staff training and development, according to her questionnaire responses.

Register of wills

One Republican and three Democrats are running in the primary race for Montgomery County register of wills. The post was left vacant after the death of former register Joe Griffin, who had served for nearly 26 years.

Dolores Reyes, a Silver Spring resident and member of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee, is the sole Republican running in the race. She represents the 18th legislative district on the central committee. Reyes did not respond to Bethesda Today’s voters guide candidate questionnaire.

The three Democratic candidates are Alan Bowser, an attorney and former federal worker from Silver Spring; incumbent Paul Dollahite, a Kensington resident and the former administrator of the Montgomery County Orphans’ Court who was appointed to the register of wills post after Griffin’s death; and Barbara Ebel, an Olney resident and longtime state workforce development official.

The register of wills is an elected position responsible for probate services such as “appointing personal representatives to administer decedents’ estates and for overseeing the proper and timely administration of these proceedings,” the office’s website states. The register also provides safekeeping of the wills of living people and issues certificates of registered domestic partnerships.

Early voting and election day

Early voting began Thursday and ends June 18. Election day is June 23.

To learn about candidates for county, state and federal offices, check out Bethesda Today’s 2026 Primary Election Voters Guide. The guide also includes answers to frequently asked questions about voting, links to recent government and politics coverage and a comprehensive list of endorsements. 

For more information about the primary election, check out the Montgomery County Board of Elections Voter Information Guide.

Digital Partners

---

Originally published at Bethesdamagazine