Five people have filed to run in Gaithersburg’s Nov. 5 municipal election, including the three incumbent city council members whose seats are up for reelection.
Council members Neil Harris and Robert Wu are each seeking a second full term. Council member Ryan Spiegel is seeking a fourth term.
The challengers are Juan Aguirre and Nicole Ukiteyedi. Aguirre is a State Farm insurance agent and Ukiteyedi, according to her LinkedIn profile, is an administrative assistant at Shady Grove Medical Center.
According to Lauren Klingler, Gaithersburg’s city elections clerk, petitions for candidacy were due by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Klingler wrote in an email that the Board of Supervisors of Elections will certify candidate petitions at its meeting Monday night, then release the list of certified candidates.
Gaithersburg’s city council is made up of five members, as well as a mayor, all of whom serve staggered four-year terms. Elections are held every two years during odd-numbered years. The positions are part-time.
Harris, a technology consultant and entrepreneur, was appointed to the council in 2014 to fill a vacancy when Jud Ashman left the council to become mayor, following the election of then-Mayor Sidney Katz to the Montgomery County Council. Harris was then reelected to a full term in 2015.
Wu, an attorney with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, was elected to the council in 2015. Spiegel has served on the council since 2007 and is a partner with the Bethesda law firm Paley Rothman, specializing in government contract law and other types of civil litigation.
Residents who live within Gaithersburg’s city limits and are registered to vote in Maryland are automatically enrolled to vote, according to the city’s website. Same-day registration is available on Election Day and during two early-voting sessions at City Hall Oct. 26 and 27.
Voters can find their precinct and polling place by typing in their address here.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media