By Adam Pagnucco.
Council Member Will Jawando, who is the first county council member I know of who has launched a federal PAC, has sent out a blast email claiming to have helped Democrats win seats in Congress. Jawando wrote:
Folks, one year ago I launched Will of the People PAC with the mission to help elect the next generation of progressive leaders who will put politics aside to get things done.
I’m proud to share that we helped tip the scales in multiple toss-up seats for Congress, including protecting VA-07 with veteran Eugene Vindman and flipping George Santos’ seat back to blue with Congressman Tom Suozzi. Our efforts also helped elect multiple new Democrats to the U.S. Senate, including Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware.
Last week, I reported that Jawando’s PAC – which has solicited contributions that get split with other federal committees – raised a total of $52,627 in the first year of its operation. Opensecrets.org reports that in the 2024 cycle, $1.98 billion was raised by U.S. House campaign committees and $1.6 billion was raised by U.S. Senate campaign committees, and those totals exclude outside money. So it’s unlikely that Jawando’s 53k had a substantial impact on party control of Congress.
Of more interest to Jawando’s colleagues is the effect that his federal advocacy will have on his ability to carry out the responsibilities of his new council leadership position: vice-president this year and perhaps president next year. (One year’s vice-president usually becomes next year’s president.) The position of president carries authority but also demands significant time, leading to annoyance inside the council building when the president runs for a higher office. That has happened twice before since 2017. Jawando has run for Congress twice (U.S. House in 2016 and U.S. Senate in 2023) and may run for county executive, a race in which he would be a formidable contender and would draw competition from council colleagues.
Council Members Dawn Luedtke and Natali Fani-Gonzalez have introduced a council rule change requiring council presidents to leave their position (but not their council seat) if they run for another office. Will Jawando’s federal PAC activities affect discussion of that rule change? Time will tell.
Jawando’s blast email is reprinted below.
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Subject Line: It’s been one year!
Folks, one year ago I launched Will of the People PAC with the mission to help elect the next generation of progressive leaders who will put politics aside to get things done.
I’m proud to share that we helped tip the scales in multiple toss-up seats for Congress, including protecting VA-07 with veteran Eugene Vindman and flipping George Santos’ seat back to blue with Congressman Tom Suozzi. Our efforts also helped elect multiple new Democrats to the U.S. Senate, including Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware.
Angela and Lisa are both the first Black women to represent their states in the Senate, and when they are sworn in next month America will have, for the first time in history, two Black women serving in the U.S. Senate at the same time. 🎉
Losing the presidential election was painful. But progress happens at every level of government, in every legislative body — from Congress and state legislatures to county councils and school boards.
In my own work on the Montgomery County Council, and in my work to elect progressive leaders through Will of the People PAC, I’m focused on building an economy that works for all, protecting our community from attacks on our fundamental rights, supporting our children’s education, and fixing our broken healthcare system.
Thank you for your support this year. We couldn’t have done all of this without you!
Sincerely,
Will Jawando
Montgomery County Councilmember
