Kensington, MD – Four Democratic candidates for Montgomery County Executive in 2026 appeared at Kemp Mill Middle School yesterday in a forum hosted by the Montgomery County Civic Federation and moderated by Lou Peck, Contributing Editor of Bethesda Magazine. The candidates — Mithun Banerjee, a Silver Spring tech professional turned small landlord; Andrew Friedson, District 1 Councilmember; Evan Glass, At-Large Councilmember; and Will Jawando, At-Large Councilmember and Council Vice President — addressed topics including affordability, federal job losses, government efficiency, transparency, school infrastructure, economic growth, housing, transit, and a proposed spending cap.

About 100 people attended the County Executive candidate forum in Kensington. Photo Credit: The Montgonion, Nov. 15, 2025

Forum questions came from the moderator, the MCCF Board of Directors, and the audience. The forum began with opening statements and self-introductions. Here is a recap:

Opening Statements

Mithun Banerjee

Photo Credit: The Montgonion, Nov. 15, 2025

Banerjee said his platform is focused on expansive social programs and tax relief. His policy proposals include establishing universal pre-K and universal childcare, and offering tuition-free community college. He plans to address housing shortages and homelessness through public-private partnerships and by providing a no-profit public housing model where residents pay only for maintenance and utilities. A central fiscal promise is to freeze property taxes for homes valued under $1 million. Banerjee also vowed to create a small-business-friendly marketplace and provide legal support to stop illegal deportations without due process.

Andrew Friedson

Friedson said he is running on a record of accomplishment, focusing on economic growth, housing affordability, and climate action, citing his seven years on the County Council. Key achievements he highlighted include creating the Housing Production Fund, which he called a "national model" public-private partnership for mixed-income housing, and working on the Nonprofit Preservation Fund to preserve affordable housing. On climate, Friedson cited passing the Green Buildings Now Act, noting it was the "largest individual climate investment in county history." He also emphasized the need to grow the private sector economy and support the workforce.

Evan Glass

Glass shared his background, noting he spent 12 years working at CNN where he covered Congress and national politics. He highlighted his community involvement in Silver Spring, where he served as a leading member of a neighborhood association, working to enhance community and road safety, and coordinating with developers to ensure new buildings reflected community values. As a two-term At-Large Council Member, Glass said it has been important to him to work with all residents across the county's diverse population.

Will Jawando

Jawando said he is running on a platform of listening to residents over "special interest and money interest." He highlighted his current role as the Vice President of the County Council and his service as the Chair of the Education Committee. A central point of his record is his commitment to inclusive decision-making, noting a "tough vote" where he and one other colleague voted against rushing the attainable housing strategy because the council "didn't listen to residents." Jawando promised that, if elected, he would listen to and include residents in all decisions.

Biggest Challenge Facing the County

Banerjee cited affordability, especially property taxes that he said have risen 22–30 percent in seven years while salaries have stagnated. He proposed that the county buy multifamily buildings to house teachers, police, firefighters, and service workers, and shift more taxation onto higher-value homes.

Friedson agreed affordability was a challenge but said the core issue is over-reliance on federal jobs: “one third of the county’s workforce either [is a] federal worker [or] federal contractor.” He warned of the “greatest brain drain we’ve ever seen” without stronger private-sector growth and said the New Jobs Initiative — roughly $20 million — was only a start.

Glass declared, “The biggest threat facing Montgomery County right now is Donald Trump,” citing mass federal layoffs, risks to Title I and housing vouchers, and employers who say their workers cannot afford to live here.

Jawando highlighted 7,000 already-fired federal workers, immigrant communities being “swept up off our streets,” and rising costs for housing, childcare, and elder care. He praised council actions including a hiring preference for fired federal workers, funding for food banks, and grassroots “kinship communities” that walk children to school so parents can avoid immigration enforcement sweeps.

Government Reorganization and Efficiency

Friedson said the county added back more than 1,000 positions since the recession “without any serious look at what the superfluous positions that are no longer necessary or programs that are no longer needed” are. He called for a top-to-bottom review and said tax increases should come only after efficiencies are exhausted.

Glass said small restaurateurs “should not have to hire a lawyer or a lobbyist to open up a restaurant” and criticized opaque budgeting, including past proposals such as $150,000 for rat-proof garbage cans. He called for “more oversight and transparency across county government” especially MCPS.

Jawando said “we need to reorganize, restructure, streamline, and build efficiencies in government” and stressed data-driven reorganization in partnership with unions, praised COVID-era innovations such as food hubs and online hearings, and said investing in childcare and guaranteed-income pilots increases productivity.

Banerjee proposed publishing every county employee’s email and phone number for direct accountability, holding regular community events by departments, and redirecting the county’s media-grant funding toward rental assistance.

Transparency and Public Participation

Glass, a former journalist, called for more robust advisory networks and possibly ANC-style systems. He remarked that he restored public-testimony time to three minutes and supported expanding the council from nine to eleven members. He said the current council did not support the People’s Counsel, but he is open to other models of public participation.

Jawando proposed piloting participatory budgeting and tapping the county’s large concentration of residents with graduate degrees. He strongly supported funding a People’s Counsel with meaningful legal authority, modeled on Baltimore County’s system, and voted to include it in this year’s budget.

Banerjee endorsed the People’s Counsel and said restricted speech rules and closed-session at-large vacancy selections violated transparency and, in his view, the county charter.

Friedson highlighted community-based master-plan hearings, extensive listening sessions on attainable-housing strategies, and the need to refresh boards, committees, and commissions. He said he initially voted against the People’s Counsel due to equity concerns but later proposed a compromise to make it accessible countywide.

MCPS Infrastructure Shortfall and Accountability

Jawando, chair of the Education Committee, said the council stopped “pretending” and now budgets deferred maintenance in the CIP. He called for responsibly increasing borrowing against the county’s triple-A bond rating and building schools “more up, less wide” with better materials.

Banerjee called the $5.15 billion need — including $2.7 billion immediately — outrageous, questioned HVAC repair costs, criticized the superintendent’s salary (about $360,000) compared with service employees, and demanded to know “where is the money going.”

Friedson said a long-term focus on building new schools rather than maintaining existing ones created today’s multi-billion-dollar backlog. He praised expanding the Office of Inspector General to oversee MCPS for stronger accountability.

Glass stressed transparency in the $3.6 billion MCPS budget, citing a $100 million “contracting services” line item that lacked any breakdown, and said the budget must be reviewed by educators, PTAs, and taxpayers.

Economic Growth and Development

Banerjee, the only candidate who identified as a business owner, said county government ignores small businesses unless they have powerful backers, and described what he called harassment through 42 citations, some unresolved, on his rental properties. He again pushed for a countywide small-business marketplace.

Friedson called private-sector growth the county’s “entire existential meat.” He criticized having seven overlapping economic-development plans — “if you have seven plans, you don’t have a plan” — outdated incubators, and executive inaction on the strategic plan the council mandated.

Glass said thousands of jobs were lost because of “Donald Trump and Elon Musk” and touted creating the standalone Economic Development Committee and the MOVE Act, which he said attracted or retained 55 businesses in its first year and is already oversubscribed.

Jawando said the only sustainable paths are expanding the tax base and investing in people. He called for major expansion of career and technical education, lowering taxes and fees for small businesses, fixing roads and parks, and aggressively recruiting in life sciences, citing recent trips to China and Japan.

Housing Development and Affordability

Friedson said the county has zoning capacity for 125,000 units but that the pipeline stalled primarily because of the rent-stabilization policy — the top barrier identified in the Planning Department’s pipeline analysis. He highlighted zoning text amendments that cut approval times by 75 percent and the $20 million Nonprofit Preservation Fund, which he said has preserved 4,500 naturally occurring affordable units.

Glass said the county is losing middle-class, mid-career workers because housing is unaffordable for teachers, nurses, and recent graduates. He noted that half of the morning traffic on Route 29 consists of Howard County residents who work in Montgomery County.

Jawando called continued luxury tax incentives “the definition of insanity,” citing taxpayer subsidies for units renting over $11,000 per month. He praised the White Oak TIF deal — projected to bring 5,000 units and 9,000 jobs — and said developers must pay their fair share.

Banerjee urged the county itself to buy multifamily properties when they come on the market and convert them to public housing, saying current preservation efforts are “too little too late.”

University Boulevard Corridor Plan

Glass said he will receive a full briefing Tuesday and is focused on making University Boulevard “a safe street for everybody,” citing 600 people struck while walking or biking countywide last year and the recent death of a Wheaton High School student.

Jawando voted against the plan in committee because he said upzoning would displace renters, raise taxes on what he described as one of the highest concentrations of Black and Latino homeowners in the county, and fail to address infrastructure issues such as schools and water and sewer.

Banerjee criticized the limited public hearings on related zoning amendments and called for building on vacant land first with genuine community input.

Friedson said the final plan is “dramatically better” than the Planning Board version due to community pushback: institutional sites downzoned, housing limited to abutting corridor properties, internal street grids eliminated, and bus-rapid-transit concerns addressed.

Bus Rapid Transit Expansion

All four candidates expressed support for continued BRT expansion on Veirs Mill Road, Route 355, New Hampshire Avenue, and the potential extension into Howard County, though they differed on funding and sequencing.

Jawando said transit must be built before being counted on in plans and called it an equity issue for low-income riders and people of color.

Banerjee supported expansion but said buses should be free for students, people with special needs, and low-income families.

Friedson said the county is “overdue” and needs state and federal funding for a truly connected network.

Glass said about $100 million in bonds will soon be approved for the Route 355 midsection, but full system funding remains absent.

Proposed Charter Amendment to Cap Spending at CPI

Banerjee supported the amendment, saying the county must “cut bureaucratic expenditure” and adding, “If I can do it in my kitchen table, I can do it for the county.”

Friedson opposed it, saying it fails to prioritize economic growth; he authored the prior charter amendment — overwhelmingly approved by voters — that ties allowable spending increases to economic growth.

Glass opposed the measure and said Maryland’s 10,000-signature threshold for ballot initiatives is outdated (now about 1 percent of the population) and should be raised to 5–8 percent.

Jawando called it a “Republican-led effort… to stop investment in schools, parks, roads,” citing Prince George’s County’s TRIM requirement as inhibitory.

Closing Statements

Jawando promised “real meaningful engagement” and “a government that’s accountable and transparent.”

Glass said local government must keep delivering core services despite challenges, and that he, as a former journalist, would demand maximum transparency and accountability.

Friedson said the county has lost 26,000 middle-income residents and lagged far behind Northern Virginia and at other major metro areas in job growth, warning that without private-sector growth “we cannot sustain the quality of life.”

Banerjee asked if residents are better off than seven years ago and repeated his pledges of free universal pre-K, free childcare, and a property-tax freeze for homes under $1 million.

Summary

The four candidates agreed on the county’s core crises — affordability, over-dependence on federal jobs, aging school buildings, and stalled housing production — but offered substantially different remedies. Banerjee stressed immediate tax relief and direct community aid; Friedson emphasized business-friendly deregulation and private-sector growth; Glass focused on transparency, process, and middle-class and mixed-income housing; and Jawando prioritized equity, worker support, and public investment in people and infrastructure. The roughly 90-minute forum showed a clear divide between growth-through-private-investment and growth-through-public-investment philosophies, with all four acknowledging the urgency but offering different paths for how to pay for expanded services in a constrained fiscal environment.

The next County Executive candidate forum, sponsored by the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, takes place Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at 6:00pm at the Silver Spring Civic Building. Click here for details.

Nov 16 Montgomery County Executive Candidates Square Off in Civic Federation Forum