2020 Montgomery County election results show local political machine in full control

Montgomery County Election Results 2020

100% of Election Day-cast voting results were released by the Montgomery County Board of Elections as of 1:53 AM this morning, as well as some early voting tabulations. Analysis of the results follows below. No election-related unrest has impacted Montgomery County so far, as both Joe Biden and Donald Trump retained pathways to victory in the presidential race overnight, with Biden winning Maryland and holding the lead in electoral votes nationally as of this hour. 

Amazon Books boarded up
at Bethesda Row on election night

Amazon Books boarded up its windows at Bethesda Row Tuesday, and additional Friendship Heights businesses did the same. The 24-hour CVS Pharmacy at 7809 Wisconsin Avenue simply closed without explanation or boards. While police maintained a heavy presence around those key retail hubs, no additional businesses have followed in boarding up their windows.

CVS Pharmacy unexpectedly closes
election night in downtown Bethesda

Election results analysis

Montgomery County 2020 election results so far show the county's political machine in full control, with a majority of voters rejecting citizen-petitioned ballot questions, and endorsing a County Council ballot question that would allow their taxes to be raised higher than ever. It's unclear if voters knew approving Question A would end up giving them more and larger tax hikes, as the text of the question falsely made it appear to be a limit on taxation. But voters rejected Question B that would have actually placed a new limit on tax increases, despite having supported Robin Ficker's other tax cap ballot questions in the past.

Boarded-up businesses in
Friendship Heights

Also failing so far on the ballot is Question D, which would have eliminated the At-Large seats on the County Council, and realigned the body's structure into nine more-compact districts. Voters approved a competing measure by the County Council, Question C, which will keep the Council as-is, while adding two new district seats. 

Friendship Heights

It's unclear how Question C's approval will actually change the dynamics of leadership and representation for three reasons: First, by only adding two new districts instead of four, all seven districts will be larger than nine smaller ones. Second, the At-Large seats remain to counterbalance parochial interests, while likely remaining in the same geographical area downcounty, retaining a solid control over policy by downcounty politicians and their financial backers. Finally, the Council could choose to ignore the vote, and keep the status quo as it did when it overturned the will of the voters on the Ambulance Fee a decade ago.

Police cruiser parked inside the
Maryland-D.C. border in Chevy Chase

What is clear is that the Washington Post editorial board continues to hold increasingly-outsize sway over regional voting decisions. The Post has scored win after win in recent years, after a period when Montgomery County voters for a time exercised more independence in their decisions. Results so far show a majority of voters precisely following the advice of the Post and the County Democratic Party sample ballot in 2020.

Jeff Bezos taking no chances

The lone resistance to the Post's marching orders came in the District 2 Board of Education race, where results so far show voters returning Rebecca Smondrowski to her seat by a twenty-point margin. Smondrowski is the only candidate to survive the primary and general election this year while not wholeheartedly endorsing a controversial push to redistrict school boundaries. Post endorsees Lynne Harris (BOE At-Large) and Shebra Evans (BOE District 4) are coasting to victory at the moment.

With the Post's increasingly-heavy thumb on the voting scales in Montgomery County, change in a declining and stagnant county remains unlikely. There is a clear partnership between the paper and the Montgomery County cartel on dystopian talking points and objectives: dismantling existing single-family-home neighborhoods, reducing the quality of all schools rather than fixing the failing ones, squashing any effort to elect independent community-focused officials (even if they are Democrats), maintaining developer dominance of County politics and land-use decisions, and an Ahab-like quest to boot Marc Elrich from office in 2022.

The Post dedicated several pages to high-quality coverage of the D.C. City Council races this year. It glaringly did not in the 2018 Montgomery County Council races, a clear indication of its role in stifling any voices of dissent or change in Montgomery County.

Rockville election results 2019

Newton reelected,

Rockville Forward slate

takes voting majority

Unofficial Rockville election results for Mayor and five City Council seats were released by the City of Rockville at 1:29 AM this morning. The numbers currently show incumbent Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton being reelected, and the Rockville Forward slate taking a voting majority on the City Council. Unofficial winners for City Council are Monique Ashton, incumbent Beryl Feinberg, David Myles, and incumbent Mark Pierzchala. 

Ashton and Feinberg ran on the Rockville Forward slate with Newton. With the Mayor having equal voting power to a Councilmember, that would give Rockville Forward a 3-vote majority, and control of the direction of the city for the next four years. Myles and Pierzchala ran on the Team Rockville slate.

This was the first vote-by-mail election in Rockville, and the City announced heavy turnout at the end of the voting day Tuesday, as well as a largely-expected increase in voter participation. 12, 213 ballots were cast by mail or at City Hall. The City cited the increased number of ballots as the reason for the delay in election results Tuesday evening.

The new voter universe appears to have broken the voters' seeming preference for divided government over the last decade. In recent past elections, voters wanted Newton as Mayor, but gave Team Rockville a 3-vote majority. Newton has sought to manage the city's growth, while Team Rockville favored a more-agressive urban density. This year, voters seem to be comfortable with the direction Newton has charted, and have rewarded her with a Council majority.

Having said that, slates don't always work out the way they are expected to. Team Rockville City Councilmember Virginia Onley, who ran for mayor against Newton Tuesday, broke with her slate to side with Newton and Feinberg on some votes. Seeing how each member votes on particular issues in the coming term will be interesting to watch, especially newcomers Ashton and Myles.

The election results will be certified on Tuesday, November 12.

Newton reelected Mayor of Rockville; Team Rockville takes 3 of 4 Council seats - 2015 election results (Photos)

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton
addresses supporters after
winning reelection last night

Incumbent Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton crushed challenger Sima Osdoby Tuesday night, easily winning reelection with 64.85% of the vote. Osdoby's Team Rockville slate colleagues fared far better in their City Council races. Incumbents Julie Palakovich Carr (12.50%) and Virginia Onley (11.44%) won, as did challenger and former councilmember Mark Pierzchala (11.68%).

A jubilant Newton supporter
celebrates as the Mayor's
big win is announced

Councilmember Beryl Feinberg bested all of the Team Rockville winners with 14.36% of the vote, and was the only independent Council candidate to win last night. The independent candidates were within winning distance though, with Richard Gottfried the top vote-getter among them at 10.25%. These election results are being termed "preliminary results" by the City.

Newton's campaign manager
and husband, Fred Newton,
welcomes the crowd

Council candidate Patrick Schoof (10.07%) managed to finish just behind Gottfried, despite being relegated to "Page 2" on the Early Voting machine ballot; how much his and Council candidate Clark Reed's (9.51%) vote totals were affected by that unfair circumstance remains to be determined.

The other two Council candidates, Brigitta Mullican (10.04%) and David Hill (9.83%) were not out of the running by any means. This was a fairly close election in the Council races.

Newton arrives at her
post-election party at
American Tap Room in
Rockville Town Square

But voters still chose a divided government, and Newton and Feinberg acknowledged in their victory speeches that all of the winners will have to work together to be successful.

Beryl Feinberg accepts
the microphone from Newton
after winning reelection
to her Council seat

"Two years ago, Beryl and I found out we were sisters," Newton told supporters at a post-election gathering at American Tap Room in Rockville Town Square. "We have found a way over the past two years to come together, to work together."

Former Mayor Jim Coyle
arrives at the party

In thanking her husband and campaign manager, Fred Newton, Bridget Newton promised this would be her last election in Rockville. Fred Newton found himself under attack from the Team Rockville slate in the final week of the campaign, an attack that culminated in an election-eve hit piece mailing that included false accusations against him, Bridget Newton, and Rockville Planning Commission chair Don Hadley.

Fred Newton hands the
microphone to Bridget Newton
after announcing the
election results to the crowd

Bridget Newton grew emotional as she described her husband's efforts as campaign manager while juggling an out-of-town work commitment, and the false charges lobbed by opponents. "He's been working his tail off," she said, "and probably of anybody, he's taken it the hardest. He's got my back."

Of the last-minute smear campaign, centered around a now-infamous mailing that carried an Osdoby authority line but also Team Rockville logos, Newton said, "The last 24 hours have been a low point, probably, in Rockville politics. I have never seen anything like what hit your and my mailboxes yesterday."

Pledging the controversy over that mailing is "not over," Newton said, "You cannot say those kind of things and not have anything happen." Hadley has already warned Osdoby and Seventh State blogger David Lublin that they may be responsible for damage to his professional name and reputation as an attorney.

"Don Hadley was maligned yesterday," Newton added. "I hope people realize that you cannot do that type of thing and just walk away."

Who all the players behind the mailing were is not yet clear, but Newton's supporters were anxious to find out. The hit mailing that arrived in voters' mailboxes Monday may also have impacted the results. Not only was Newton's win resounding, but the nasty mailing may have turned off some voters from voting at all.

Feinberg was the top
vote-getter on the Council

Of the 40,749 registered voters in Rockville, only 6,343 (15.57%) voted last night and during the Early Voting, or by absentee ballot. Turnout was actually higher in 2013 at 16.62%, and there was much hand-wringing after the election about that low number. Whatever efforts were made to address that have clearly failed.

Newton and former
Mayor Larry Giammo

Despite the negative political atmosphere, Newton pledged that "we are moving forward with the leadership of this city. We are going to move this city forward in a very positive way." In addition to thanking her staff and supporters, Newton also thanked the independent Council candidates.

Coyle and fellow past
Mayor Steven Van Grack
confer as they await
election results

She also congratulated the winning Team Rockville candidates. "Together we can do this. We can make this a great, great leadership team," she vowed.

Feinberg agreed, telling Newton, "You and I found a fantastic way to work together." Referring to her legislative priorities, Feinberg said, "I have a laundry list at home, so I have to call Bridget probably tomorrow to talk about what I want to work on." Budget and purchasing issues would be at the top of that list, she predicted.

County Councilmember Sid Katz

Both Newton and Feinberg expressed interest in holding a Mayor and Council retreat as soon as possible, to foster a better working relationship among the incoming body, and set "rules of the road."

Council candidate Patrick Schoof
and former
Councilmember Anne Robbins

Among a long list of independent candidates and VIPs at Newton's event were former Rockville mayors Jim Coyle, Steven Van Grack and Larry Giammo; former Gaithersburg Mayor (and current District 3 County Councilmember) Sid Katz; state delegate and 8th District Congressional candidate Kumar Barve; former City Councilmember Anne Robbins; City Council candidates Hill, Schoof, Gottfried, and Mullican; Hadley and Planning Commissioners Jack Leiderman, Charles Littlefield and Gail Sherman; former planning commissioner Dion Trahan; and former Montgomery County Public Schools administrator and County Council candidate Fred Evans.

Council candidate Brigitta Mullican

Rockville Planning Commissioner
and Council candidate David Hill

All of last night's winners made history, as they will be the first Mayor and Council to serve a four-year term.  The new Mayor and Council will be sworn in during an inauguration ceremony at 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 15 at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, at 603 Edmonston Drive. Their first meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 16.

ROCKVILLE MONTGOMERY COUNTY 2014 ELECTION RESULTS FOR COUNTY RACES

Early election returns show County Executive Ike Leggett and all Montgomery County Council incumbents prevailed in Tuesday's election. In the open seat races, things weren't quite so predictable.

In District 3, unseemly ageism attacks on Gaithersburg Mayor Sid Katz by the Washington Post, and other allies of his primary opponents, appear to have backfired - big time. Katz is squarely in the lead for Phil Andrews' old council seat, and the few voters who turned out Tuesday clearly voted for name recognition, and steady, experienced leadership over youthful exuberance. That said, with the unofficial defeat of current city councilmember Tom Moore, Rockville lost the opportunity to have a city resident on the county council.

Katz will be unopposed in the November election, meaning he will be a de facto councilmember-elect once voting results are final.

All Democratic At-Large councilmembers appear to have won their primary race, although the vote totals of challenger Beth Daly and incumbent George Leventhal were what passed for drama Tuesday evening.

Here are the standings as of early this morning:

DISTRICT 3

Guled Kassim 458
Sid Katz 5,578
Tom Moore 4,527
Ryan Spiegel 3,074

(no Republican candidate in District 3)

AT-LARGE

Democrats

Beth Daly 36,787
Marc Elrich 53,394
Nancy Floreen 49,094
George Leventhal 42,835
Vivian Malloy 23,829
Hans Riemer 46,473

Republicans

Robert Dyer 10,283
Chris Fiotes 9,586
Adol T. Owen-Williams II 9,474
Shelly Skolnick 9,794

WOMEN TAKE OVER IN ROCKVILLE - ROCKVILLE ELECTION 2013

Complete 2013 Rockville Election results: Click here

During the recent federal government shutdown, some argued that electing more women to Congress would end its legislative gridlock. But can electing more women to the Rockville city council have the same effect on a body recently criticized for bickering between factions? The city is about to find out.

No public list of past councilmembers is available online, as best I can tell. But the next Mayor and Council certainly contains the highest number of women members (4) in my recollection, if not in the history of Rockville. Voters yesterday chose a woman (Bridget Newton) as mayor for the third consecutive time since Mayor Larry Giammo left office. And the top votegetter in the council race was a woman, as well (Julie Palakovich Carr).

Tom Moore will be the sole male elected official in Rockville for this term of office.

ROCKVILLE ELECTION RESULTS: NEWTON, TEAM ROCKVILLE SLATE WIN

Rockville voters chose councilmember Bridget Newton as their new mayor tonight, and decisively backed the agenda of the Team Rockville slate, electing all 4 members to the city council. Only 40226 city voters chose to participate in voting Tuesday, marking a low 16% turnout.

Julie Palakovich Carr received the most council votes with 4308,  (18.7%), a strong showing that placed her ahead of fellow winners Virginia Onley, incumbent Tom Moore, and Beryl Feinberg.

Don Hadley finished only 88 votes behind Feinberg, and Claire Marcuccio Whitaker had the least votes.

MAYOR

√Newton 53.06% 3508 votes
  Pierzchala 46.68% 3086

COUNCIL

√Palakovich Carr 18.7% 4308
√Onley 17.60% 4063
√Moore 17.47% 4035
√Feinberg 16.01% 3698
  Hadley 15.63% 3610
  Whitaker 13.72% 3167

Expand Mayor & Council terms to 4 years?

√Yes 53.54% 3548
  No 42.98% 2848
  No opinion 3.49% 231

Hold Rockville elections in presidential election years?

  Yes 41.91% 2767
√No 53.47% 3530
  No opinion 4.62% 305

Expand council seats from 4 to 6?

  Yes 42.91% 2843
√No 50.49% 3345
  No opinion 6.60% 437

Rockville Nights will have analysis of the election results later today (it's officially Wednesday right now).