Editor’s note: This story, published at 1:47 p.m. on Jan. 20, was updated at 11:34 a.m. on Jan. 22 to clarify that the amount of money Andrew Friedson’s campaign has on hand was raised over a multi-year period.
Dennis Melby elected chair of the Montgomery County Republican Committee
Dennis Melby of Laytonsville was elected Tuesday evening to his second stint as chair of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee.
Melby, who served as the first vice chair of the committee in 2023, was elected to a year-long term as chair as part of a slate of officers chosen by acclamation during a meeting at the Bauer Drive Community Recreation Center in Rockville. Under committee rules, the leadership election was held during a session closed to all but central committee members.
“We need more diversity of thought, more diversity of politics in Montgomery County,” Melby said when asked via telephone interview about his top priorities. He said he hopes to get more Republicans involved in joining various advisory committees of the Montgomery County government, since “we don’t have the ability to get them on the County Council yet.”
He was alluding to the absence of Republicans on the 11-member, all-Democratic County Council. Melby takes over the chairmanship of a local party that last elected a candidate to the council or to the county’s state legislative delegation more than 20 years ago in 2002.
Melby was upbeat about Republican prospects this year in western Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which includes the northwestern portion of Montgomery County—and which became the state’s most competitive district as a result of the 2022 redistricting. U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Potomac) is giving up that seat to pursue a bid for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.
“One of the really important things to us is to get a Republican congressman in Congressional 6. We have a lot of groups that are working to try to make that happen. We came pretty close two years ago,” Melby said, referring to Trone’s 55%-45% victory over Republican Neal Parrott.
Another issue that may be on the 2024 ballot—contingent on accumulating the required number of signatures – is a referendum on limiting the county executive to two terms. Former Republican Central Committee Chair Reardon Sullivan of Gaithersburg has spearheaded an effort to place that measure on the ballot since losing the race for county executive in 2022 to Democratic incumbent Marc Elrich, who won a second term by a 3-1 margin.
While Melby said a number of members of the Republican Central Committee have been involved in helping to collect signatures to place the measure on next November’s ballot, he added that the committee has yet to take a formal vote on supporting the effort.
“But in talking to all the committee members, they’re fully behind it,” Melby said of the term limit effort. “If the president can be two terms and the governor can be two terms, we need the county executive to be two terms, too.”
Melby—a retired real estate agent first elected to the county Republican committee in 2018—succeeds Del Lamiman, a Boyds farmer who opted not to seek re-election. Lamiman became chair in mid-2022 when his predecessor, Sullivan, resigned in conjunction with his candidacy for Montgomery County executive.
Melby previously chaired the committee in the latter half of 2020, when—during a previous stint as the committee’s first vice chair—he ascended to the top slot when the then-chair, Rockville-based attorney Alexander Bush, resigned.
Succeeding Melby as first vice chair of the Republican central committee is Stacey Sauter of Potomac, an unsuccessful candidate for the state House of Delegates from District 15 in 2022. The other three committee officers elected Tuesday will reprise the roles they held last year: Monte Gingery of Potomac, second vice chair; Lori Jaffe of Bethesda, secretary; and Brigitta Mullican of Rockville, treasurer.
Prior to the Republican Central Committee, Melby’s political experience included four terms on the board of the Village of Friendship Heights. In addition, before working in real estate beginning in the late 1980s, Melby’s career included stints as staffer in Congress and the federal executive branch, as well as the American Enterprise Institute – a prominent Washington-based think tank. – Louis Peck
New Md. Jewish Legislative Caucus features a Montgomery County majority
Creation of the Maryland Legislative Jewish Caucus was announced this week, with Del. Jared Solomon (D-Kensington) serving as one of its two co-chairs, and his Montgomery County colleagues comprising a majority of the new group.
Of the 20 Jewish legislators currently serving in the 188-member Maryland General Assembly, 12 represent districts in Montgomery County. Of the nine state senators in the county’s legislative delegation, six are Jewish: Sens. Brian Feldman (D-Potomac), Cheryl Kagan (D-Rockville), Ariana Kelly (D-Bethesda), Ben Kramer (D-Derwood), Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Kensington) and Craig Zucker (D-Brookeville).
Besides Solomon, the Jewish Caucus members from among the 26-member Montgomery County House delegation include: Dels. Anne Kaiser (D-Silver Spring), Aaron Kaufman (D-Chevy Chase), Marc Korman (D-Bethesda), Ryan Spiegel (D-Gaithersburg) and Joe Vogel (D-Rockville).
“With antisemitic and hate incidents at record levels, the Maryland Jewish Legislative Caucus will be an important voice in the General Assembly to combat hate, collaborate with our diverse partners, and celebrate Jewish culture and heritage,” Solomon said in a press release announcing the group’s formation and outlining its goals.
According to the release, those goals range from “improving security measures for organizations predominantly serving Jewish communities and other vulnerable communities at risk for hate-based violence” to “educating the community about the diversity and history of Maryland’s Jewish communities, which come from all corners of the world.”
According to worldpopulationreview.com, Maryland is home to 240,000 Jews—or about 4% of the state’s total population. (By percentage, Maryland ranks fourth among the 50 states in terms of Jewish residents.) However, the percentage of the Jewish population in Montgomery County is more than twice that high—approximately 10%, according to the New York-based Berman Jewish DataBank.
Montgomery’s 105,400 Jewish residents account for nearly 45% of the Jews living in Maryland, with the Baltimore area home to an additional 95,000, accounting for 40%. Besides the 12 Montgomery-based members, six of the remaining eight members of the newly formed Jewish Legislative Caucus represent the Baltimore area—including Sen. Shelly Hettleman (D-Baltimore County), who will co-chair the group with Solomon.
According to this week’s press release, non-Jewish legislators from these areas and elsewhere in the state will be able to participate as well. “…Legislators who are connected to the Jewish community via the district they represent, family, or affinity will be able to join as associate members,” the release said. —Louis Peck
With nearly $800K, Friedson has most of any potential 2026 county executive candidates
Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) has close to $800,000 in his campaign treasury, according to disclosure reports filed this week with the Maryland State Board of Elections. That’s by far the most of any of those considered potential 2026 Montgomery County executive candidates.
Friedson raised slightly more than $177,000 during the 12 months ending in early January, on top of $623,000 already in his campaign treasury – for a total of $800,000. He reported $15,000 in expenditures during the past year, leaving his campaign with a net total of nearly $785,000.
While current County Executive Marc Elrich (D) is the only confirmed candidate for the 2026 race, county councilmembers have frequently run for the seat in the past. Friedson held a fundraiser on Jan. 6, just a couple of weeks before the latest reporting deadline.
Among others:
- Elrich has a little over $3,500 on hand, and has spent $26,500
- State Sen. Ben Kramer (D-Dist. 19), who leads Montgomery County’s Senate delegation, has $170,643 on hand and spent a little over $8,500.
- Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large), who would not confirm or deny to MoCo360 during a recent interview whether he was considering a run, reported $4,395 on hand and no expenditures.
- Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) has $461 on hand and has spent $11,536. Jawando ended his campaign for U.S. Senate in October.
- Councilmember Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7) has just over $17,700 on hand and has spent around $2,200.
- Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) has a little over $4,000 and reported just under $6,500 in expenditures.
- 2022 Republican county executive nominee Reardon Sullivan has just under $2,000 on hand and reported no expenditures. — Ginny Bixby
Evan Glass appointed to Environmental Protection Agency committee
Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) has been appointed to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Local Government Advisory Committee, the county announced in a press release Thursday.
Glass is one of 37 appointees to the board from local governments across the country. The panel advises the EPA on how it can help local governments implement climate policies.
According to the release, some of the committee’s 2024 tasks include providing input on plastic pollution reduction, policies to reduce lead and copper in drinking water and ways to improve communication within communities about local environmental issues and policies.
— Ginny Bixby
Longtime Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO retires
Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Gigi Godwin is retiring, the organization announced in a news release Friday.
Godwin has been with the chamber since 2003, when she came on as director of education and outreach. She has served as president and CEO since 2006. She’s credited with the creation of the Montgomery County Chamber Community Foundation’s Veteran Institute for Procurement, which provides trainings to veteran-owned small businesses, as well as the creation of the Government Contracting Network (GovConNet), which engages in federal advocacy for small business government contractors.
Godwin’s retirement will go into effect June 30. The chamber has formed a search committee to seek her successor. — Ginny Bixby