Personal Ballot Guide · Montgomery County, MD 🇺🇸
The full field for every race, with a suggested pick (highlighted) weighted toward climate & the major local endorsements. Tap any candidate's name to open their campaign site.
🗳️ Primary: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 · early voting June 11–18In deep-blue Montgomery County the Democratic primary effectively decides most of these offices — November is a formality.
In each table, the highlighted row (✓) is the suggested pick — weighted toward climate & the Sierra Club's endorsements, plus competence/effectiveness. Every candidate is listed with a short note so you can judge for yourself, and each name links (↗) to their official campaign site where one exists.
A few races turn on housing, taxes, or policing — personal calls, marked YOUR CALL.
🏛️ County — Executive & Council (the headline races) · 🏦 State & Federal — Governor, Congress, your legislators · ⚖️ Courts & Schools — judges, sheriff, school board, and the rest. There's also a clean Print layout (your browser's print) that lays out every race on paper.
Tags: SC Sierra Club · GGW GGWash · MCEA teachers · Moore · highlighted ✓ = pick · names ↗ link to campaign sites
County Executive vote for 1 · OPEN SEAT
Marc Elrich is term-limited. A real 3-way race that splits on housing; all three frontrunners are solid on climate, so governing philosophy is the tiebreaker.
| Candidate | Notes |
|---|---|
| Evan Glass | SC Strongest climate record (led killing the Dickerson incinerator; clean-energy data-center rules); balanced on housing; co-frontrunner. |
| Will Jawando | MCEA Teachers + most unions; wrote the rent-stabilization law (most pro-tenant); co-frontrunner. |
| Andrew Friedson | GGW Most pro-housing / build-more (YIMBY); fiscal moderate; biggest war chest. |
| Mithun Banerjee | Long-shot; first-time candidate; posted a fabricated attack screenshot during the race. |
| Peter James | Long-shot; unconventional tech platform (would ban large AI data centers, replace buses with self-driving pods). |
✅ Lean: Evan Glass — the Sierra Club's pick and the most aggressive emissions/clean-energy record. But this one's yours: prioritize tenant protections/labor → Jawando; want a lot more housing built & tighter budgets → Friedson.
Council At-Large vote for up to 4 · 17 candidates
✅ Suggested 4 (climate + competence + build-clean blend): Sayles · Silvestre · Goldberg · Caballero. Mix in others below to taste — e.g. swap in Elrich or Selvam if climate is your single axis.
| Candidate | Notes & endorsements |
|---|---|
| Laurie-Anne Sayles | Incumbent; the consensus pick. SCGGWMCEAMoore |
| Karla Silvestre | School-board member; budget/schools expertise. GGW |
| Scott Goldberg | County Dem Party chair; pro-housing + tough data-center standards. GGW |
| Josie Caballero | Navy veteran; equity + climate; would be first openly trans member. SCMCEA |
| Marc Elrich | Termed-out County Executive; the slow-growth / anti-supply figure. SCMCEAMoore |
| Prabu Selvam | Sierra Club climate pick; low public profile. SC |
| Fatmata Barrie | Immigration & special-ed attorney; ex-aide to Will Jawando. MCEA |
| Matt Losak | Renters Alliance founder; strong tenant-protection voice. |
| Jim McNulty | Gaithersburg councilmember; pro-supply, opposes rent stabilization. GGW |
| Radwan Chowdhury | COO; former Freddie Mac; East County advocate. |
| Jeremiah Pope | General Assembly chief of staff; favors a data-center moratorium. |
| Dana Eugene Gassaway | Former teacher / small-business owner; solar program. |
| Hamza Khan | Activist; did not return candidate questionnaires. |
| Steve Solomon | Limited public information available. |
| Lelia S. True | Limited public information available. |
| Vicki Vergagni | Limited public information available. |
| Muhammad Arif Wali | Limited public information available. |
Council — District 6 vote for 1
LEAN Natali Fani-González
| Natali Fani-González | Incumbent & Council President; pro-transit, climate-friendly density. SCGGWMCEAMoore |
| Sonia A. Garcia | Challenger; growth-skeptic / government-transparency platform; former NIH analyst. |
Tags: SC Sierra Club · GGW GGWash · MCEA teachers · Moore · highlighted ✓ = pick · names ↗ link to campaign sites
Governor / Lt. Governor vote for 1
LEAN Wes Moore & Aruna Miller
| Wes Moore / Aruna Miller | Incumbents; strong clean-energy record. |
| Eric S. Felber / LaTrece Hawkins Lytes | Token challenger; physician. |
U.S. House — District 8 vote for 1
LEAN Jamie Raskin
| Jamie Raskin | Incumbent; ranking member, House Judiciary; climate-progressive; overwhelming favorite. |
| J.D. Kumar | Business-development consultant. |
| Stephen Alan Leon | Attorney / inventor. |
| Boris Kabel Velasquez | Reportedly suspended his campaign — name remains on the ballot. |
House of Delegates — District 18 vote for up to 3
LEAN Shetty · Solomon · Kaufman
| Emily Shetty | Incumbent; House Democratic Caucus Chair. SCGGWMCEAMoore |
| Jared Solomon | Incumbent; Deputy Speaker Pro Tem; transit caucus. SCGGWMCEAMoore |
| Aaron Kaufman | Incumbent; disability-rights leader; backed 100% carbon-free pledge. SCMCEAMoore |
| Kate Stein | Progressive challenger (caregiving, tenant protections, green jobs). No major endorsements. |
State Senate — District 18 vote for 1
UNOPPOSED Jeff Waldstreicher
| Jeff Waldstreicher | Incumbent; Sierra Club–endorsed; anti-highway-widening record. Unopposed — no other candidates. |
Comptroller vote for 1
UNOPPOSED Brooke Elizabeth Lierman — incumbent; no other candidates.
Attorney General vote for 1
UNOPPOSED Anthony G. Brown — incumbent; no other candidates.
Democratic Central Committee — Dist. 18 vote for up to 2
LEAN Bhatnagar + Fischman
| Shruti Bhatnagar | Former Montgomery County Sierra Club president — the climate pick. SC |
| Edward Fischman | Incumbent committee treasurer (pairs with Bhatnagar to satisfy the gender-balance rule). |
| Teresa Ramirez | Limited public information available. |
Tags: MCEA teachers · Bar Association · Moore · highlighted ✓ = pick · names ↗ link to campaign sites
Sheriff vote for 1
YOUR CALL lean Will Milam (low confidence — a management race, not climate/ideology)
| Will Milam | Challenger; ex-#2 of the PG County sheriff's office; 12+ unions + FOP + MCGEO; out-raised Uy ~8:1; runs on fixing workplace culture. |
| Maxwell Uy | Incumbent; first Asian American MoCo sheriff; backed by several elected officials; keeps the no–ICE-cooperation policy (both do). |
Register of Wills vote for 1
LEAN Paul Dollahite
| Paul Dollahite | Appointed incumbent; first attorney to hold the office; 17 yrs running the Orphans' Court division. |
| Alan Bowser | Probate/estate attorney, 30+ years; former federal official. |
| Barbara Ebel | State workforce-development official; led early fundraising. |
Circuit Court Judge — Circuit 6 vote for up to 4
LEAN the 4 sitting judges
| Sharon V. Burrell | Sitting judge. Moore |
| Victor M. Del Pino | Sitting judge. Moore |
| James J. Dietrich | Sitting judge. Moore |
| Catherine H. McQueen | Sitting judge. Moore |
| Marylin Pierre | Challenger (5th run); campaigns against the judicial appointment/vetting process. Not Bar-recommended. |
Board of Education — At-Large vote for 1 · nonpartisan
LEAN Omar Lazo
| Omar Lazo | Montgomery College trustee; county workforce-board chair. MCEA |
| Wylea Chase | Leadership Montgomery director; educational-equity background. Credible progressive alternative. |
| Brenda Diaz | Conservative / "Moms for Liberty"-aligned — flagged since you're voting the Democratic primary. |
| Tiffany Wicks | On the ballot but reportedly not actively campaigning. |
Board of Education — District 3 vote for 1 · nonpartisan
LEAN Sally McCarthy — only appears if you live in BOE District 3
| Sally McCarthy | PTA leader / policy background. MCEA |
| Brett DiResta | College professor & baseball coach; runs a Democratic consulting firm. |
| Cassandra "Cassi" Sung | Maternal-health & childcare advocate. |
| Sharon Creed | Limited public information available. |
| Andrew Frykman | Limited public information available. |
State's Attorney (John McCarthy) and Clerk of the Circuit Court (Karen Bushell) are unopposed — no other candidates. There is no Orphans' Court race in Montgomery County (Circuit Court judges handle it).
Board of Education is nonpartisan and finally decided in November (the primary just narrows the field). You vote the At-Large seat plus only your home BOE district seat. Districts 1 (Grace Rivera-Oven) and 5 (Elma-Lorraine Diggs) are unopposed incumbents.
Endorsement slates and candidate facts come from these — worth a skim before you commit: