The event is billed as an effort to promote issues deemed important to Montgomery County, but over eggs and bacon, the real business in the cavernous conference center at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center was politics and campaigning.
This year, the 32nd time the Committee for Montgomery hosted its annual power breakfast, the crowd was among the largest, despite the pandemic, which required attendees to show proof of vaccination.
“This is possibly one of the best opportunities to see the full cross-section of Montgomery County leadership all in one place,” County Executive Marc Elrich told Bethesda Beat.
The big draw was the gubernatorial candidates looking for support among the most activist Democrats in the county. Campaigning in the vote-rich county is also attractive because its residents are generous political donors.
The political breakfast also drew a slew of others running for office next year, including U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Prince George’s), who wants to be the state’s next attorney general, and County Council Member Tom Hucker, who is challenging Elrich for executive.
Another Democratic county executive candidate, David Blair, who nearly defeated Elrich in 2018, was also there. The wealthy businessman, who has never held elected office, was on message.
“The one thing I bring is executive leadership,” he said in an interview. “It’s been my professional career.”’
The Democratic race for county executive so far is Elrich, Hucker, Blair and County Council Member Hans Riemer. There are no declared Republicans yet.
Blair was present at the breakfast in more ways than one. His nonprofit, the David and Mikel Blair Family Foundation, was the “Diamond Sponsor” of the event.
Lesser “Platinum Sponsors” were Adventist HealthCare and Holy Cross Health. “Gold” and “Silver” sponsors included corporations, lobbyists, nonprofits, unions, the city of Gaithersburg and the town of Kensington.
The event’s main event was the opportunity to hear from those hoping to succeed Rep. Gov. Larry Hogan, who is term-limited from running again.
The nine candidates perched on stools onstage were given no more than 90 seconds, and sometimes less, to answer questions based on what organizers determined to be the county’s priorities — including transportation, economic development, social justice and housing affordability.
The only major candidate not on the stage was state Comptroller Peter Franchot. His campaign press secretary, Jordan Bellamy, wrote in an email to Bethesda Beat that Franchot “committed well in advance” to speak at a minority business outreach fair.
Perennial candidate Robin Ficker, the lone Republican in the lineup, provided the best, and perhaps only, zinger during the polite exchange of ideas.
In response to a question about social justice, former Democratic National Committee chairman and Obama administration cabinet member Tom Perez spoke of his participation in an event to honor the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, where the Rev. Martin Luther King gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
Ficker, who was next in line to speak, said he marched with King at the 1963 civil rights event and quipped, “Tom, I didn’t see you there that day.”
Perez, however, who lives in Takoma Park, drew enthusiastic applause when he said he wants to extend health care to the 350,000 Marylanders who are uninsured and overrepresented when it comes to COVID-related deaths in the state.
“I have a plan to give 100 percent of Marylanders health care,” Perez said.
Candidates — all Democrats except Ficker and Libertarian David Lashar — promoted their ties to Montgomery County.
“I live in Silver Spring, about 25 miles from where my grandfather was a slave,” said John King Jr., who was secretary of education in the Obama administration.
Ashwani Jain, of Potomac, said he is “the proud product of Montgomery County schools.”
Former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who lives in Bethesda, was among a few local candidates who complained “we’ve never had a governor elected from Montgomery County.”
He also said the General Assembly in Annapolis often ignores the county’s needs in favor of other parts of the state, drawing murmurs of assent from the crowd.
Meanwhile, candidates who don’t live in Montgomery County have picked running mates from the county.
Former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker has chosen Montgomery County Council Member Nancy Navarro. Wes Moore, a nonprofit executive from Baltimore who lived in Takoma Park as a child, has chosen former Montgomery County state Del. Aruna Miller.
While the Democratic candidates agreed on many things, there were some differences. When asked how he would handle the state’s “rainy day fund,” a record $2.5 billion surplus in the budget, Moore said it should be spent right away to help struggling Marylanders.
“For many people in the state, it’s pouring right now,” he said.
Perez urged a more cautious approach, saying he would consult with county executives and other local officials before committing to spend any of that money.
“There may be different needs in different parts of the state,” he said.
Lashar, the Libertarian, said the money should be kept under lock and key because “it’s raining (pandemic-related) money from Washington right now, so there’s no need to spend it.”
There were also differences in candidate positions on transportation. Some candidates wanted the emphasis to be solely on mass transit, while Gansler said he supported plans to expand I-270 and shore up structurally deficient infrastructure in the state.
“I don’t want to be on the American Legion Bridge when it falls,” Gansler said.
There was another key difference between the candidates onstage. Some were veteran officeholders and others — including Moore and Jon Baron — have never run for elected office before. But they said that does not matter.
“Unlike the others, I understand programs and policies,” said Baron, a former government employee and nonprofit executive who founded the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy.
