In Montgomery Council primary races, the seven sitting Council Members seeking re-election were all successful in their bids to return as Democratic party nominees, and will be joined in the general election by two political veterans coming from different levels of government. Current Delegate Tom Hucker has narrowly won the primary for the seat in the county’s District 5, while Gaithersburg Mayor and former MML President Sidney Katz won a contested primary for the District 3 seat.
The Montgomery County Council is made up of four (4) council members that serve at-large and five (5) representatives of councilmanic districts. Unofficial results from the The State Board of Elections indicate that the incumbent at-large and councilmanic candidates have all prevailed in their primaries. For the vacant seat in Districts 3, Sidney A. Katz has the lead with nearly 8% more than the closest challenger. For the vacant seat in District 5, Maryland State Delegate Tom Hucker has a narrow lead, leading candidate Evan Glass by a little more than 1%.
Four candidates may proceed from each at-large primary to the general elections. There were six at-large candidates in the Democratic primary including challengers Beth Daly and Vivian Malloy, and incumbents Marc Elrich, Nancy M. Floreen, Hans Riemer, and George L. Leventhal. In this race, unofficial results show the incumbents beating the challengers. Councilmembers Elrich (21%), Floreen (19%), Riemer (18%), and Leventhal (17%), are leading their challengers Daly (15%) and Malloy (9%).
At-large candidates in the Republican primary included Robert Dyer, Chris P. Fiotes, Jr., Adol T. Owen-Williams, II, and Shelly Skolnick. All four of these candidates will proceed to the general election.
In District 1, incumbent Roger Berliner prevailed with 79% of the vote. His challenger, Duchy Trachtenberg earned 21%. Ms. Trachtenberg served as an At-Large Montgomery County Councilmember from 2006 to 2010. In the Republican primary for District 1, Jim Kirkland ran unopposed.
In District 2, incumbent Council President Craig L. Rice beat his challenger Neda Bolourian. Council President Rice earned 76% of the vote, to Bolourian’s 24%. Council President Rice serves on MACo’s Legislative Committee and as the Chair of MACo’s Education Subcommittee. In the Republican primary, Dick Jurgena ran unopposed.
In District 3, Guled Kassim, Sidney A. Katz, Tom Moore, Ryan Spiegel all vied for a seat vacated by Councilman Phil Andrews, who ran for Montgomery County Executive against incumbent County Executive Ike Leggett. Sidney Katz prevailed with 41% of the vote. The closest challenger, is Tom Moore, with 33% of the vote.
In District 4, incumbent Nancy Navarro was unopposed in the primary, and her republican opposition, John O’Malley, also ran unopposed in the republican primary.
In District 5, Christopher Barclay, Evan Glass, Maryland State Delegate Tom Hucker, Terrill North, Jeffrey Thames ran for the seat vacated by Councilwoman Cherri Branson. As of Wednesday morning, Maryland State Delegate Tom Hucker has a narrow lead, with 38.6% of the vote. The closest challenger, Evan Glass, has 37.44%.
All percentage results are current as of 7am Wednesday morning. For updated information, see the State Board of Elections.
