By Adam Pagnucco.
District 2 County Council Member Marilyn Balcombe, who is running for her second term, has sent out two mailers during the general election. She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and now faces Republican Arian Borghei and write-in candidate Joseph Abdalla in the general.
Dating back to her 17-year tenure as president of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, Balcombe has been a long-time advocate for Upcounty and her mailers reflect that. In her mailers, she writes, “There is too much at stake for the Upcounty; you can’t afford to miss this important election” and “For too long we were taken for granted.” That latter statement is a common sentiment throughout Upcounty.
Balcombe also quotes my 2026 Democratic primary turnout analysis, noting “District 2, our district, was the lowest voting district in the County with only 28% of eligible voters voting in the primary.” I also wrote, after mentioning Downcounty’s higher turnout, “After decades of this disparate geography, the Downcounty/Upcounty divide is about as close to an immutable law of MoCo politics as it gets.”
Balcombe’s points remind me of her 2020 guest column, which was one of the best guest posts I have ever run. In The Upcounty Doesn’t Vote and Nobody Seems to Care, Balcombe argued that Upcounty’s low turnout resulted in less understanding about the area’s issues among countywide elected officials. Three years later, I linked her argument to the failure of the county to invest in Upcounty transportation projects. I’m not an Upcounty resident, but it seems to me that since they pay the same taxes as the rest of us, they are entitled to equivalent investment from their government.
One more point. It’s not just turnout rates that differ throughout the county. It’s also candidate selection. After I get done analyzing the primaries (the executive series is complete), I plan on publishing candidate voting by local area. That will show, more than anything, the political diversity in Montgomery County.
For now, Balcombe’s mailers are reprinted below.
