The Maryland Democratic Primaries are set to take place on June 23, when voters registered as Democrats will be eligible to cast ballots for their preferred general election nominees. As Montgomery County leans heavily Democratic, winners of the primaries are expected to handily win the general election against the winner of the Republican and other party primaries. This article aims to serve as an informal, abbreviated election guide on which races will impact WCHS and MCPS students, and the candidates running.
Board of Education
The MCPS BOE has four out of seven seats open in one of the few nonpartisan primaries held in the county. Seats for Districts 1, 3, 5 and an at-large seat are open. Sitting President Grace Rivera-Oven is running again for her District 1 seat, the only incumbent this cycle to do so, and is widely expected to retain the position. District 3 board member Julie Yang and at-large member Karla Silvestre are vacating their positions to run for County Council instead. District 5 board member Brenda Wolff has announced she will not seek re-election. Sitting board members Natalie Zimmerman, Laura Stewart and Rita Montoya will not face re-election until 2028.
No candidates but Rivera-Oven have filed for the District 1 seat.
Brett Di Resta, the president and CEO of a Democratic opposition research firm, and Sally McCarthy, a former committee chair for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA), are running for the District 3 seat vacated by Yang. McCarthy has received the endorsement of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), whose influential “Apple Ballot” contributed to ousting three BOE members two years ago in favor of Zimmerman, Stewart and Montoya.
Elma‑Lorraine Diggs is thus far the only declared candidate running for Wolff’s District 5 seat. A PTA president and mother of two MCPS students, Diggs strongly believes in the power of education.
Omar Lazo, a small business owner and former candidate for County Council, and Wylea Chase, a former director of operations for the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence, are running to succeed Silvestre in her at-large BOE seat. MCEA has endorsed Lazo for the position.
County Council
All 11 Montgomery County Council seats are up for election. With all seats currently held by Democrats, the primary victors are likely to win the general election as well. Though 11 seats are open, there are only eight races, as candidates may run for seats representing Districts 1 through 7, or run for an at-large seat, a race that will have four total winners. Of the 11 sitting councilmembers, five are vacating their seats entirely. District 1 Councilman Andrew Friedson and At-Large Councilmen Evan Glass and Will Jawando are running for County Executive and will not participate in their districts’ council elections. District 3 Councilman Sidney Katz is term-limited after serving three terms on the council, and is barred from running again. At-large Councilwoman Shebra Evans, a former District 4 BOE member, will not be running for the seat as part of an agreement made that included her appointment to the seat after its previous holder resigned in late 2025.
Sitting BOE member Julie Yang is the highest-profile candidate running to replace Friedson in the competitive District 1 race. Sitting County Executive Marc Elrich aide Debbie Spielberg is also running, as well as Maryland Department of Transportation policy adviser Drew Morrison. MCEA has endorsed Yang for the seat.
Incumbent District 2 Councilwoman and Council Vice President Marilyn Balcombe is running uncontested for re-election. MCEA has not made an endorsement in the race.
Rockville City Councilmember Izola Shaw, Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman and former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employee Allison Eriksen are competing for the Democratic nomination for the District 3 seat. Shaw leads the pack in fundraising, and in recent financial reports has received campaign contributions from Jawando, Elrich and others. Shaw also has received the MCEA endorsement. Ashman has received contributions from Katz, Balcombe, State Delegate Lily Qi, former U.S. Representative David Trone and others. Donations are not official endorsements, though they often reflect a certain degree of support.
District 4 Councilwoman Kate Stewart faces challengers Peter “Rocky” Whitesell and Paula Bienenfeld in her re-election bid. Whitesell is a former National Institutes of Health employee, and Bienenfeld is a local education advocate who has previously competed for the District 4 seat. Stewart has received the MCEA endorsement.
Incumbent District 5 Councilwoman Kristen Mink is running uncontested for re-election. MCEA has endorsed Mink in the race.
Incumbent District 6 Councilwoman and Council President Natali Fani-González is running uncontested for re-election. MCEA has endorsed Fani-González in the race.
District 7 Councilwoman Dawn Luedtke faces former Montgomery County police officer Sharif Hidayat in their Democratic primary. Luedtke reported raising over $16,000 last year, compared to Hidayat’s zero. MCEA has not made an endorsement in the race.
Numerous candidates are running for one of the four at-large seats up for election on the County Council. Sitting at-large members Evan Glass, Will Jawando and Shebra Evans are vacating their seats, leaving Laurie-Anne Sayles the sole at-large Councilmember running for re-election. Other candidates running for an at-large seat include Elrich, Silvestre, Steve Soloman, Fatmata Barrie, Josie Caballero, Scott Goldberg, Jeremiah Pope, Lelia True, Muhammad Arif Wali, Prabu Selvam and Christa Tichy. MCEA has endorsed Sayles’ re-election bid, and Elrich, Barrie and Caballero for the other three seats. Barrie is an attorney, and Caballero an LGBTQ+ advocate and Navy veteran. In recent financial reports, Goldberg holds a strong fundraising edge over the other candidates.
County Executive
Four Democrats are running to succeed term-limited incumbent Marc Elrich as he pursues an at-large seat on the County Council. Sitting Councilmembers Andrew Friedson, Will Jawando and Evan Glass boast recognition advantages over Silver Spring resident Mithun Banerjee, an upper hand reflected in campaign finance reports, which show Friedson with a lead over Jawando and Glass, and Banerjee trailing the three Councilmembers significantly. Having raised over $1 million, Friedson enjoys financial backing from well-established business entities and political action committees. Jawando, who has raised over $706,000, has run his campaign in a grassroots style, but has picked up big-name endorsements from Elrich and MCEA, as well as campaign contributions from other Montgomery County elected officials. Glass, who in a statement touted his campaign’s grassroots support, has raised about $656,000 and has received support from notable individuals such as former U.S. Representative David Trone and Obama Administration Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez.
Despite the disparity in fundraising, the race is considered to be quite competitive, with campaigning expected to ramp up in the coming months approaching the Democratic primary. Voters are highly encouraged to visit the candidates’ campaign websites for more detailed information on their policy positions and the candidates themselves.
State Senate & House of Delegates
Races for the State Senate and House of Delegates are in many election cycles considered non-competitive. Almost all of the WCHS attendance boundary is in Legislative District 15, which sends a single state senator and three House delegates to Annapolis, like most other districts. State Senator Brian Feldman is running for re-election in an uncontested race. District 15 Delegates Linda Foley, Lily Qi and David Fraser-Hidalgo are also running uncontested for re-election.
WCHS students may take an interest in more competitive state-level elections, regardless of constituency. Neighboring Legislative District 14 is seeing a race for one of their House of Delegates seats, as sitting Delegate Pamela Queen prepares to retire. Former MCPS Student Member of the Board of Education Matt Post and former USAID officer Alicia Contreras-Donello are competing for the Democratic nomination for the seat.
State Leadership
Races for State of Maryland leadership, including Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller and Attorney General, are considered non-competitive races this election cycle. Incumbent Governor Wes Moore and incumbent Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller are expected to handily win re-election, as are Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Attorney General Anthony Brown.
United States Congress
WCHS students are primarily represented by Maryland’s 8th Congressional District (MD-08), in the House of Representatives, with a small minority represented by MD-06. The District 8 seat is currently held by Representative Jaime Raskin, who is running for re-election in a noncompetitive race. District 6 incumbent April McClain-Delaney is running for re-election against several competitors, including former District 6 Representative David Trone, who vacated the seat in 2024 to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Senator Angela Alsobrooks. Trone, a wealthy alcohol magnate, is likely to put up a strong fight against McClain-Delaney in a surprisingly competitive primary this election cycle.
There are no races for a U.S. Senate seat representing Maryland this year. The next one will be in 2028, when current U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen is up for re-election.
