You should vote for the candidates you support and believe in. However, I am often asked about many of the candidates and ballot questions. Here are the candidates and questions on which I have taken a public position.
Federal Races I suspect most of you have preferences in the major races. I am supporting Hillary Clinton for President. A lot could be said about her opponent, but for me, Clinton is the only presidential candidate talking seriously about our complicated economic, environmental, and security challenges. For Senate, I support Chris Van Hollen, whose approach to policy and dedication to serving his constituents is something many of us in elected office aspire to. District 16 is split between two U.S. House seats and I support Jamie Raskin--who will be a powerful progressive voice in the House--and John Delaney--who has shown he is committed to taking on big challenges, such as securing necessary funding for infrastructure. School Board Even though some of our school board seats have district numbers, the entire county votes in all the races. In District 4, I have endorsed Shebra Evans. Shebra is the mother of two children in the school system and is focused on the equity and achievement gap challenges facing our schools. Shebra's background in finance makes her well suited to overseeing a multi-billion dollar school district. I support the reelection of Rebecca Smondrowski in District 2. Rebecca has been a parent-advocate on the school board and has viewed the job of the board as one of oversight and activism, a philosophy I share. She has been particularly focused on the challenges facing our special needs population. Ballot Questions Vote Yes on Question 1: Passage would mean that vacancies in the statewide elected offices of Comptroller and Attorney General would be treated in the same manner as those for U.S. Senate. It would provide for special elections if a vacancy occurred early in the term and any appointments would need to be made consistent with the political party of the vacating official. You can watch a short explanatory video about the question here. Vote Yes on Question A: If passed, it would allow for special elections in the case of a County Executive vacancy. Currently, the County Council is charged with appointing a successor. Vote No on Question B: The ballot question would impose term limits on County Councilmembers and County Executives. There are many strong opinions on term limits, but I do not believe in creating an arbitrary limit on the length of time an elected official can serve. Montgomery County voters have voted many councilmembers and a county executive out of office before without the need for term limits. Term limits increase the sway of lobbyists and staff and activists have been over-promising the wonders of term limits for years. Vote Yes on Question C: Regardless of you position on term limits, you should vote yes. Question C would allow a partial council term (in the case of a vacancy) to not be counted towards the term limit total. If Question B does not pass, Question C would have no effect. This is analogous to the treatment of term limits for the US President. Of course, you can also vote on election day, Tuesday, November 8 between 7am and 8pm. Click here to find your polling place. And regardless of how you vote or who you vote for, thank you for participating in our democracy. Comments are closed.
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April 2024
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