Six of the nine council seats as well as the county executive position are up for grabs at the November 2022 election. Already, several council members and County Executive Marc Elrich said they will seek re-election. Because of term limits, three councilmembers cannot run again. They are Hans Riemer, Nancy Navarro and Craig Rice.
Elrich told MyMCM he would seek re-election but has not yet prepared a statement to kick off his campaign. At least one councilmember is considering challenging Elrich for that position. In an email to MCM, Riemer wrote, “This spring I will explore a candidacy for County Executive.”
Will Jawando is kicking off his re-election campaign with a virtual launch March 21 at 3 p.m. His fundraiser will feature remarks from U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin.
Both Gabe Albornoz and Sidney Katz told MyMCM they intend to seek another term. Evan Glass also plans to seek re-election. In a text to MyMCM, he wrote, “I will be seeking reelection, though right now I am focusing my attention on our pandemic recovery efforts and the FY22 budget.”
Council President Tom Hucker and Councilman Andrew Friedson both said they were too focused on helping the county recover from the pandemic to decide what their future holds.
“We are living through a public health emergency so I’m working night and day seven days per week on the pandemic and the recovery,” Hucker wrote in a text to MyMCM.
Friedson texted, “I’m focused right now on helping our community navigate through this public health emergency, providing needed relief and support for our residents and businesses, and managing the county’s significant fiscal and economic challenges. We”ll be ready to think about the next campaign at the appropriate time, but we’re in a crisis and I’m too busy helping residents struggling with their own jobs to be focusing on mine.”
When asked what his future plans will be when his term expires, Rice texted that he is “not sure what is next for me yet.” In an email to MCM, Navarro wrote, “Our County continues to face unprecedented challenges and I’ve been strategically focused on responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic, fiscal issues, economic development and equity. I hope to continue working on these and many other issues after my service on the Council, but have not decided in what capacity yet.”
The next council election won’t take place until Nov. 8, 2022. Besides county executive and councilmember, other seats up for grabs include board of election districts 1, 3, 5 and at-large, state’s attorney, clerk of the circuit court, register of wills, sheriff and the Republican and Democratic central committee members.
During the 2022 election, there will be two additional council seats – now 11 total – on the ballot to represent the newly created districts that were approved by voters during the previous election.
Candidates could begin filing Feb. 23 and have until Feb. 22, 2022 to file to run.
