Who’s endorsing whom for Montgomery County offices?

Check out which candidates got the nod from leading local and state groups

June 10, 2026 4:48 p.m.

Vote pins — Photo credit: Moussa81/Getty Images

With Thursday marking the opening of early in-person voting, here are primary election endorsements for contested county offices by several organizations that are well-known locally and have established a presence in recent elections.

A large majority of the groups weighing in with endorsements in this year’s June 23 Democratic primary are labor unions, with most of the rest of the endorsements coming from issue advocacy organizations.

There are no contested Republican primary elections with the exception of the executive race. In that race, the front-runners are Democratic County Councilmembers Evan Glass and Will Jawando (both at-large) and Andrew Friedson, who represents District 1. The four other candidates in the race are Peter James of Gaithersburg and Mithun Banerjee of Silver Spring, both Democrats; as well as Shelly Skolnick of Friendship Heights and Esther Wells of Montgomery Village, both Republicans.  

Only one business group — the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR) — has made formal endorsements this year. Another, the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), did so for a number of recent election cycles — but opted not to do so in 2022 and again this year. Instead, officials of that organization have indicated they are expressing informal preferences through financial support to certain candidates.

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For more information on candidates for local, state and federal races, check out Bethesda Today’s 2026 Primary Election Voters Guide.

With Democrats enjoying a 4-1 voter registration edge over Republicans in Montgomery County, the winners of the Democratic primary will be heavily favored in November. In several cases, the Democratic primary winner is guaranteed victory: The Republicans did not file candidates for three of four at-large County Council seats or two of the seven district seats (Districts 2 and 4). Also, no Republicans are running for two of the so-called courthouse offices–state’s attorney and clerk of the Circuit Court–or sheriff).

Here’s what to know about the organizations whose endorsements are listed below:

The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) represents more than 14,000 teachers and other non-supervisory educational professionals in the county school system; the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 500 represents the school system’s 9,500-member support staff.

County executive

Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA): Will Jawando

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 500: Jawando

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ: Jawando

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35: Andrew Friedson

Montgomery County Career Fire Fighters (IAFF Local 1664): Friedson

Montgomery County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association: Friedson

Metro Washington Labor Council/AFL-CIO: Jawando

Progressive Maryland: Jawando

CASA in Action: Jawando

Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR): Friedson

Sierra Club: Evan Glass

For only the second time in its 30-plus years history of representing much of the county government workforce, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994 MCGEO declined to endorse a county executive candidate. “Unlike a lot of past executive races, there wasn’t a sufficient comfort level with any of the candidates to get an endorsement from the board,” long-time Local 1994 President Gino Renne recently told Bethesda Today.

In addition to organizations, an unusually large number of current and former local and statewide elected officials have weighed in with endorsements in this year’s contentious Democratic county executive primary. Here are some of the higher profile names that have lined up behind front-runner candidates:

Andrew Friedson:

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy
County Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2), and Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist.7), state Sens. Katie Fry Hester (D-Dist. 9), Craig Zucker (D-Dist. 14), Brian Feldman (D-Dist. 15), Sara Love (D-Dist. 16), Cheryl Kagan (D-Dist. 16), Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Dist. 18) and Nancy King (D-Dist. 39)
state Dels. Linda Foley and Lily Qi (both D-Dist. 15) and Marc Korman (D- Dist. 16 )
at-large Board of Education member Rita Montoya
U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Dist. 3)
former County Executive Doug Duncan
Potomac businessman and 2022 county executive candidate David Blair
former at-large County Councilmember and 2022 county executive candidate Hans Riemer
former U.S. Rep. Michael Barnes (D-Dist. 8)
former Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot
former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler
and former Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp.

Evan Glass:

County Council President Natali Fani-Gonzalez (D-Dist. 6)
Sen. Will Smith (D-Dist. 20)
state Dels. Julie Palakovich Carr and Joe Vogel (both D-Dist. 17), Bonnie Cullison (D-Dist. 19) and Lesley Lopez (D-Dist. 39)
District 4 Board of Education member Laura Stewart
U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia)
former U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Dist. 6)
and Tom Perez, former County Councilmember, U.S. labor secretary and Democratic National Committee chair.

Will Jawando:

County Executive Marc Elrich (D)
Gov. Wes Moore (D)
U.S. Sen. Angela Alsbrooks (D)
County Councilmember Shebra Evans (D-At-large)
Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5)
state Dels. Pamela Queen (D-Dist. 14), Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Dist. 20) and Gabriel Acevero (D-Dist. 39)
U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Dist. 7)
Maryland Treasurer Dereck Davis of Prince George’s County
and Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy.

County Council/At-Large (four seats)

MCEA: Fatmata Barrie, Josie Caballero, Marc Elrich, Laurie-Anne Sayles

SEIU Local 500: Barrie, Elrich, Sayles, Karla Silvestre

SEIU 32BJ: Barrie, Caballero, Elrich, Sayles

UFCW MCGEO: Scott Goldberg, Sayles, Silvestre

Career Fire Fighters: Goldberg, Jim McNulty, Silvestre

Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Elrich, Goldberg, Jeremiah Pope, Silvestre

Fraternal Order of Police: Goldberg, McNulty, Silvestre

Metro Washington Labor Council: Caballero, Elrich, Sayles

CASA: Barrie, Caballero, Elrich, Sayles

Democratic Socialists of America: Caballero

Progressive Maryland: Barrie, Caballero, Elrich, Sayles

GCAAR: Goldberg, McNulty, Silvestre

Sierra Club: Caballero, Elrich, Sayles, Prabu Selvam

Seventeen Democrats are competing for four at-large council nominations in this year’s primary, with only one of the candidates—Laurie-Anne Sayles—an incumbent. Two of the other three at-large incumbents, Evan Glass and Will Jawando, are running for county executive to succeed the term-limited executive, Marc Elrich, who is running to return to the council—where he previously served from 2006 to 2018 – as an at-large member.

County Council/District 1 (Bethesda/Chevy Chase/Potomac)

MCEA: Julie Yang

SEIU Local 500: Yang

SEIU 32BJ: Debbie Spielberg

UFCW MCGEO: Yang

Career Firefighters: Drew Morrison

Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Yang

Fraternal Order of Police: Yang

CASA: Spielberg 

Metro Washington Labor Council: Spielberg

GCAAR: Morrison

Sierra Club: Spielberg

The Democratic incumbent in this district, Andrew Friedson, is giving up the seat to run for his party’s nomination for county executive.

Morrison, a state Department of Transportation official, has the endorsement of Gov. Wes Moore (D) and the state’s two previous Democratic governors: Martin O’Malley and Parris Glendening. County Executive Marc Elrich has endorsed Spielberg, his long-time aide. Two former state attorneys general—both residents of District 1—are split: Doug Gansler (2006-2014) is backing Morrison, while Brian Frosh (2014-2022) is behind Spielberg.

County Council/District 2 (Clarksburg/Darnestown/ Germantown/North Potomac/Poolesville)

Democratic incumbent Marilyn Balcombe has no primary opposition as she seeks re-election to a second term. Also, no Republican challenger is listed on the November general election ballot.

County Council/District 3 (Rockville/Gaithersburg)

MCEA: Izola Shaw

SEIU Local 500: Shaw

SEIU 32BJ: Shaw

UFCW MCGEO: Shaw

Career Fire Fighters: Jud Ashman

Fraternal Order of Police: Ashman

Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Ashman

GCAAR: Ashman

Metro Washington Labor Council: Shaw

CASA: Shaw

Democratic Socialists of America: Shaw

Progressive Maryland: Shaw

Sierra Club: Shaw

This is one of two open seat races for district council seats: Incumbent Sidney Katz, first elected in 2014, has reached the three-term limit now part of the county charter.

Ashman has received the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks this year after Ashman in 2024 appeared in a TV ad on behalf of Alsobrooks during her successful campaign against former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. (Ashman had crossed party lines in 2018 to back Hogan’s re-election as governor.)

County Council/District 4 (Garrett Park/Kensington/North Bethesda/Silver Spring/Takoma Park)

MCEA: Kate Stewart

SEIU Local 500: Stewart

SEIU 32BJ: Stewart

UFCW MCGEO: Stewart

Fraternal Order of Police: Stewart

Career Fire Fighters: Stewart

Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Stewart 

Metro Washington Labor Council: Stewart

CASA: Stewart

GCAAR: Stewart

Sierra Club: Stewart

County Council/District 5 (Burtonsville/Colesville/White Oak)

MCEA: Kristin Mink

SEIU Local 500: Mink

SEIU 32BJ: Mink

UFCW MCGEO: Mink

Metro Washington Labor Council: Mink

CASA: Mink

Progressive Maryland: Mink

Sierra Club: Mink

Mink, seeking re-election to her second term, opted not to pursue the endorsements of the three county groups representing public safety workers: the Fraternal Order of Police, the Career Fire Fighters/Local 1664, and the Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association, according to knowledgeable sources.

County Council/District 6 (Aspen Hill/Glenmont/Wheaton)

MCEA: Natali Fani-González

SEIU Local 500: Fani-González

SEIU 32BJ: Fani-González

Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Fani-González

Metro Washington Labor Council: Fani-González

CASA: Fani-González

Progressive Maryland: Fani-González

Sierra Club: Fani-González

A major local labor union and a regional business group, both of whom endorsed Fani-González in her first run for the council four years ago, chose to make no endorsement in the District 6 race this year. UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO had been planning to endorse Fani-González for a second term, but reversed course after she—as the current council president—proposed that negotiated raises for union workers be cut back during this year’s county operating budget deliberations. Meanwhile, GCAAR’s no-endorsement stance follows Fani-González’s decision in 2023 to support a rent stabilization law strongly opposed by the Realtors’ group.

County Council/District 7 (Brookeville/Damascus/Laytonsville/Montgomery Village/Olney)

SEIU Local 500: Dawn Luedtke

UFCW MCGEO: Luedtke

Fraternal Order of Police: Luedtke

Career Firefighters: Luedtke

Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Luedtke

GCAAR: Luedtke

MCEA—the county teachers’ union—endorsed Luedtke when she first ran four years ago, but has not issued an endorsement in the District 7 race this year. Luedtke is the only incumbent—of a total of six incumbent councilmembers seeking re-election this year—who did not garner a spot on the union’s so-called “Apple Ballot.”

Sheriff

SEIU Local 500: Will Milam

UFCW MCGEO: Milam

Fraternal Order of Police: Milam

Career Fire Fighters: Milam

Metro Washington Labor Council: Milam

Over the past year, UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO–whose members include employees of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office—has made a major push to oust the incumbent sheriff, Maxwell Uy, after endorsing him when he initially sought election in 2022.

In addition to the backing of MCGEO and other unions representing county police and fire officials, Uy’s challenger—former Prince George’s County Chief Assistant Sheriff Will Milam—is running with the endorsement of former County Executive Ike Leggett and a dozen members of the county’s state legislative delegation. Uy, in turn, has the backing of County Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2) and Sidney Katz (D-Dist. 3) and three of the county’s state legislators.

Judge of the Circuit Court (four seats)

Bar Association of Montgomery County: Sharon Burrell, Victor Del Pino, James Dietrich, Catherine McQueen

Unlike the four-year terms of other offices on this year’s ballot, Circuit Court judges are elected to 15-year terms. Under state election law, incumbent judges appointed by the governor since the last election, along with challengers who file to run, appear on both the Democratic and Republican primary ballots.

This year, three of the “sitting judges” running—Del Pino, Dietrich and McQueen—were recently appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D), while the fourth, Burrell, was originally appointed to the bench by former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and is running for a second 15-year term. The four are being challenged by Rockville attorney Marylin Pierre, making her fifth run for a judge’s seat.

The four incumbents have garnered the endorsements of seven of the 11 County Councilmembers, 25 of 35 members of the county’s state legislative delegation, and State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

State’s Attorney

Democratic incumbent John McCarthy—first elected in 2006–is seeking re-election to a sixth term. He has no opposition in the June 23 primary, and there is no Republican challenger on the November general election ballot.

Register of Wills

Bar Association of Montgomery County: Paul Dollahite

UFCW MCGEO: Barbara Ebel

CASA: Ebel

Long-time Register of Wills Joseph Griffin died in office last summer, and Kensington attorney Dollahite was appointed by the county’s Circuit Court judges to succeed him. Dollahite is now seeking the Democratic nomination for a full term, along with Ebel—a state workforce development official—and Silver Spring attorney Alan Bowser.

Clerk of the Circuit Court

Democratic incumbent Karen Bushell, seeking re-election to a second full term, has no opposition in the June 23 primary, and there is no Republican challenger on the November general election ballot.

Board of Education/At-Large

MCEA: Omar Lazo

SEIU Local 500: Lazo

The incumbent, Karla Silvestre, is running for a County Council at-large seat, sparking a four-way non-partisan contest to succeed her. The two top finishers will move to a runoff in November.

Board of Education/District 1 (Clarksburg/Germantown/Montgomery Village)

Incumbent Grace Rivera Oven is running unopposed for a second term.

Board of Education/District 3 (Bethesda/Chevy Chase/Potomac)

MCEA: Sally McCarthy

SEIU Local 500: Brett DiResta

The incumbent, Julie Yang, is running for the District 1 County Council seat, and there are five contenders in the non-partisan contest to succeed her.

Board of Education/District 5 (Silver Spring)

Elma-Lorraine Diggs is unopposed in her bid to succeed two-term board member Brenda Wolff, who opted to retire.

Louis Peck, a contributing editor for Bethesda Magazine, can be reached at lou.peck@bethesdamagazine.com.    

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine