By Adam Pagnucco.
Back in 2018, MoCo voters elected a nine-member county council that had one female member: District 4’s Nancy Navarro. That didn’t sit well with a lot of folks who follow county politics. Additionally, conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court then overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision leaked more than two months before the 2022 primary. Those events and others awakened MoCo’s female Democrats and maybe a few men too.
Three years ago, I told this story that tipped me off about what was coming.
I have a long-time friend who votes in every election and sometimes asks me for advice when she does not know the candidates well. This year, she called to ask about the county council and state legislative races. I gave her a few opinions and she replied, “That’s fine, but I want to vote for more women. Who are the female candidates who aren’t nuts?” She had never said anything like that in the decades I have known her, but the repeal of Roe vs Wade and the menace of fascism on the right had changed things.
The result was that every single open seat on the county council was won by a woman. The council’s 8-1 male majority was replaced with a 6-5 female majority. And with a group of men leaving the council next year, that majority could increase.
Every time I have crunched data on Montgomery County Democratic voters – the folks who decide our election outcomes – the result is the same: nearly 60 percent of them are women. That holds true whether I am looking at registered Democrats, Democrats who always vote, Democrats who usually vote and so on. If every female MoCo Democrat decided to vote only for women, the only way a man could get elected is if he had no female opponent. (Message to MoCo Democratic male candidates: never, ever cross women voters!)
MoCo female candidates have probably always had an advantage in our elections of debatable and varying size, particularly for school board seats. But it was especially apparent in the 2018 Democratic county executive primary. A trio of council members – Roger Berliner, Marc Elrich and George Leventhal – had planned to run for years. The field also included fresh-faced, free-spending businessman David Blair and telegenic Delegate Bill Frick. Entering late was Rose Krasnow, a former mayor of Rockville who had become a planning department manager. She had not run for office in nearly 20 years, and at the time of her entry was arguably the least known of the candidates.
2018 county executive candidate Rose Krasnow.
It didn’t matter. Krasnow quickly qualified for matching funds in public financing, gathered up a bevy of endorsements (including from many female elected officials) and proved to be an able speaker at forums. She did not have sizzling charisma, but she was substantive, cordial and projected an air of competence. Voters could easily imagine her as a sober, capable occupant of the executive’s chair. In the primary, she finished behind Elrich and Blair but ahead of veteran politicians Berliner, Leventhal and Frick. It really makes one wonder what would have happened if four-term Council Member Nancy Floreen (who was term limited) had run in the primary and not the general election.
Of the ten jurisdictions in the state with county executives or (in the case of Baltimore City) mayors, MoCo is the only one to never be led by a woman. Here is a complete list of female county executives and mayors. Warning: it’s long!
Anne Arundel County
Janet Owens (D), 1998-2006
Laura Neuman (R-Appointed), 2013-14
Baltimore City Mayors
Sheila Dixon (D), 2007-10
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D), 2010-16
Cathy Pugh (D), 2016-19
Baltimore County
Kathy Klausmeier (D-Appointed), 2025-present
Cecil County
Tari Moore (R), 2012-16
Danielle Hornberger (R), 2020-24
Frederick County
Jan Gardner (D), 2014-22
Jessica Fitzwater (D), 2022-present
Harford County
Eileen Rehrmann (D), 1990-98
Howard County
Elizabeth Bobo (D), 1986-90
Prince George’s County
Angela Alsobrooks (D), 2018-24
Tara Jackson (D-Appointed), 2024-25
Aisha Braveboy (D), 2025-present
Wicomico County
Julie Giordano (R), 2022-present
Do you notice that four of these executives are Republicans? That’s right, red county GOP voters have supported women for their highest office while MoCo Democrats have – so far – not followed suit.
Krasnow’s example should encourage women to run for Montgomery County executive. But given the quality of today’s field, which features three heavyweight contenders (Council Members Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando), it would take a top-tier candidate to succeed. A female candidate with a real chance to win would have to be even better than Krasnow and of the caliber of former WJLA-TV anchor Kathleen Matthews (who ran a strong 2016 campaign for Congress), Senator Cheryl Kagan (who has competed in multiple tough races and now dominates her legislative district) or Council Member Kate Stewart (who is well regarded by my sources but is running again for her current seat). I am not suggesting that any of these women will or should run. But if any woman comparable to them gets in, watch out! The dynamics of the county executive race would change dramatically overnight.
And so, given the demographics of its electorate, the progressive values permeating its dominant political party and the experiences of other large Maryland jurisdictions, MoCo is an anomaly for never electing a female executive. How long will it stay that way?