By Adam Pagnucco.
The Apple Ballot, wielded by the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), is one of the most valued endorsements in MoCo politics. It’s commonly bestowed on incumbent elected officials who vote in accordance with the union’s legislative agenda. In fact, the union sometimes endorses friendly incumbents before making its other picks, and it’s doing so again next year. But there’s an important caveat which will get the attention of challengers.
On June 30, MCEA announced its friendly incumbent endorsement process for state legislators. (The announcement did not include county-level candidates.) In short, if an incumbent had received the union’s endorsement in the prior cycle, that person would be eligible to receive an endorsement possibly as early as the fall of 2025. MCEA was careful to indicate that such an endorsement would not be automatic.
Here is their press release. And then news of the caveat follows.
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June 30, 2025
Contact: Michael Schoettle, mceapress@mceanea.org
For Immediate Release
MCEA Announces Friendly Incumbent Endorsement Recommendation Process
Rockville, MD – MCEA is pleased to announce that it will run a friendly incumbent endorsement recommendation process for the 2026 election cycle for state legislators whom its state affiliate, the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA), previously endorsed.
Only state-level elected officials who have gone through MSEA and MCEA’s rigorous Apple Ballot endorsement process in the previous election cycle are eligible for this endorsement recommendation process.
“We believe that establishing a friendly incumbent endorsement process allows our union to build on an already robust endorsement process and to take advantage of our state affiliate’s previous endorsement,” said MCEA President David Stein. “This new process helps streamline our union’s endorsement efforts, while maintaining fidelity to our democratic process.”
Eligible friendly incumbents will be required to complete MSEA’s questionnaire and sit for an interview with MCEA’s interview caucus, consisting of MCEA Directors and other member leaders. “We want to make sure that our members have the opportunity to ask friendly incumbents the tough questions on their voting record and on their willingness to support future legislation,” added Stephanie Gawlinski, the chair of MCEA’s Political Action and Legislative Support (PALS) Committee. “Nothing in this process requires our union to recommend endorsement to our state affiliate. Incumbents will still need to earn that recommendation.”
On Saturday, September 13, 2025, MCEA’s interview caucus will hold friendly incumbent interviews at 12 Taft Court, Rockville, MD 20850.
For additional information, please contact mceapals@mceanea.org.
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Now here’s the wrinkle. To be eligible, a state legislator incumbent must “have gone through MSEA and MCEA’s rigorous Apple Ballot endorsement process in the previous election cycle.” That seems to rule out appointed incumbents.
I asked MCEA whether this was true. I received this reply from Stephanie Gawlinski, chair of the union’s Political Action and Legislative Support Committee.
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One of the things that makes our endorsement so meaningful is that we have a very involved and detailed process.
To maintain the fidelity of our process, only those at the state level who have previously earned the endorsement of MSEA/MCEA through our multi faceted and very transparent endorsement process can qualify to participate in the friendly incumbent endorsements.
Any delegate or senator who was appointed or who did not previously earn our endorsement will need to go through the full endorsement process.
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This is a big deal. As I have previously written, there have been many legislative appointments during Governor Wes Moore’s tenure in office. Here are the MoCo appointees who did not undergo the MCEA endorsement process in the 2022 cycle as of this writing. They are all in the House of Delegates.
Bernice Mireku-North, District 14
Sarah Wolek, District 16
Greg Wims, District 39
Ryan Spiegel, District 17
Teresa Woorman, District 16
District 16 is particularly interesting because its House race already has a challenger (Tazeen Ahmad) and powerhouse Delegate Marc Korman is (so far) running only with Senator Sara Love. Ahmad and her supporters have to be happy about this.
That said, all of these appointees will eventually get their chance to go through MCEA’s endorsement process. Many of them – maybe even all of them – will get an Apple Ballot. But at least MCEA is not allowing the problematic appointment process to give folks a leg up.
Bravo for the union. Let the competition begin!