Editor’s note: MoCo360 is running profiles of candidates based on questionnaire answers they submitted for our 2024 voters guide. This story, originally published at 10:16 a.m. Oct. 24, 2024, was updated at 4:2O p.m. to include the responses of U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin.
Republican and public relations strategist Cheryl Riley of North Bethesda is seeking to unseat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) of Takoma Park, who is running for his fifth term, in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Raskin has held the seat since 2017. The district represents the southern and northeastern portions of Montgomery County and a small portion of western Prince George’s County. Find your district by entering your address on the Maryland General Assembly’s lookup tool.
Early voting runs through Thursday. Polling sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information on local races and coverage of election forums, check out the MoCo360 2024 Voters Guide.
With Raskin largely seen as the favorite to win, the 8th District race has been sleepy, with limited campaigning efforts from either side and no forums, debates or prominent polling conducted. Raskin gained national recognition for his prominence on the House of Representatives Jan. 6 committee that investigated the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. At least 60% of Montgomery County voters are registered as Democrats.
This is not Riley’s first foray into politics. While she has not held public office, she ran unsuccessfully in 2022 as the Republican nominee for a District 4 seat on the Montgomery County Council. Democrat Kate Stewart won that race and is serving as the council’s vice president.
Here are the candidates:
Jamie Raskin
Party: Democrat
Age: 61
City/town of residence: Takoma Park
Education: Harvard University, Harvard Law School
Current/most recent role: Representative in the U.S. Congress, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, member of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.
Previous political experience: State senator in the Maryland General Assembly representing District 20 (Silver Spring and Takoma Park)
Why are you running?
I’m running for re-election to Congress because I am ever more committed to defending constitutional democracy and personal freedom in America and to ensuring government works for everyone in Maryland’s 8th District.
I tell my new staff that no job is too big or too small for us. Whether it’s leading the impeachment of a dangerously corrupt president, finding a lost Social Security check for a retiree in Bethesda, defending tens of thousands of federal workers in my district against Project 2025’s plan to purge and replace 50,000 people in the civil service with MAGA sycophants, or obtaining Veterans Administration benefits for a veteran in Rockville, we act to get results for our people. With one of the most effective constituent service operations in Congress, I use my constitutional knowledge and coalition-building experience to promote progress on everything from lowering prescription drug prices to reducing airplane noise to protecting reproductive freedom.
If elected, what would your priorities be within your first 100 days in Congress?
I have three essential priorities for my time in Congress:
First, we must get democracy moving forward again by redeeming majority rule and reforming America’s political institutions. This means taking on the filibuster, ending gerrymandering, moving to a national popular vote for president, creating a binding ethics code for the Supreme Court, passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, admitting new states to empower disenfranchised Americans and dismantling state-based voter suppression tactics that cement the matrix of GOP democracy-repression.
Second, I’m passionate about creating a society that promotes freedom, justice and opportunity for all. This means protecting women’s reproductive health care rights, strengthening civil rights, reducing dangerous inequality and fighting for prosperity for everyone. It also means using the government as an instrument for the common good instead of allowing it to be used as an instrument for private self-enrichment for the president, his family and his businesses.
Third, our overarching challenge is to effectively confront the civilizational crisis of climate change. To dramatically reduce carbon emissions, break from the carbon barons and unleash renewable energy technologies like solar and wind, we must defeat the autocrats, get past right-wing culture wars and unify America and the world to take sustained global action.
What district-specific issues are you most passionate about and how would you use your platform to address them?
Every day my Rockville office delivers successful results for constituents navigating the twists and turns of federal bureaucracy, whether it’s the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, the U.S Postal Service, or the Veterans Administration. I am committed to having a district office operation second to none in Congress and we pride ourselves on a remarkable record of success.
In the Capitol, I fight for policy to make everyone’s lives better. I have brought back federal funding for numerous community projects in the 8th District, including making bus stop safety improvements to further Montgomery County’s Vision Zero initiative and protect transit riders, expanding the Montgomery County police department’s Crisis Intervention Team Unit to ensure an effective response to mental health crises, adding new electric vehicle charging infrastructure to public parking garages in downtown Silver Spring, and furthering conservation and restoration efforts in the Potomac River Basin. I will continue to fight for significant community project funding in the next Congress.
Meantime, I’m fighting for national policies to promote affordable housing, health care for all, a well-respected professional civil service and strong democracy and personal freedom.
I’m pushing to substantially increase federal rental assistance and affordable housing programs. In 2023, I announced a nearly $1.5 million investment in Neighborworks America to support efforts to develop and preserve affordable housing, revitalize and sustain neighborhoods, and create jobs in Maryland.
I’m working to codify Roe v. Wade, to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and to pass the Fair Representation Act for Ranked Choice Voting in all federal elections.
I’m a strong supporter of Federal TRIO Programs to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including low-income families and first-generation college students, and the American Teacher Act to center education as a national priority and address teacher shortages by increasing educator pay.
I also cosponsored the Civics Learning Act to ensure schools have the resources they need to provide a robust education in civics and our constitutional system of government, and the Strength in Diversity Act to reduce racial and socioeconomic isolation in early childhood education and public schools.
What do you think Congress’ role should be when it comes to public schools? What can you do to best support the schools?
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had a devastating effect on the psychological wellbeing of our young people, it has worked to depress academic achievement. That is why I am committed to securing investments that empower our students to thrive inside and outside of the classroom.
This starts with early childcare and early childhood education. I’m proud to have helped secure federal funding for Head Start programs to expand early learning, development, health services and family well-being. I’m a strong supporter of Federal TRIO Programs to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, including low-income families and first-generation college students, and the American Teacher Act to center education as a national priority and address teacher shortages by increasing educator pay.
Finally, I cosponsored the Civics Learning Act to ensure schools have the resources they need to provide a proper, robust education in civics and our constitutional system of government, and the Strength in Diversity Act to reduce racial and socioeconomic isolation in early childhood education and public schools.
We need to be doing everything in our power to rid our schools of antisemitism and racism, which are a proven impediment to learning and a danger to minority groups and to society. We need to pass the Showing Up for Students Act, a $260 million investment in the Department of Education to stamp out antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in our schools, legislation that the GOP leadership has refused to take up.
How should Congress address crime?
I have helped secure federal funding for multiple community projects in Montgomery County to advance public safety, effective policing and infrastructure. In Congress, I am a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to find practical solutions to our nation’s shocking gun violence epidemic. I also cosponsored and firmly support the Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act, the Assault Weapons Ban Act, and the Keep Americans Safe Act, and joined efforts like the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would ensure background check procedures are followed for all gun sales. Earlier this year I also reintroduced my bill, the Handgun Permit to Purchase Act, which would create a grant program to encourage states to enact permit-to-purchase laws to require individuals to obtain a license before purchasing a handgun.
I am a longtime champion of criminal justice reform in our state, and have played a strong role in decriminalizing marijuana, restoring voting rights to ex-felons, reforming mandatory minimums, expunging evidence of crimes that are no longer crimes, and passing the Maryland Second Chance Act to promote not only justice and social healing but economic empowerment and reintegration.
The Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade has changed the face of reproductive care access across the country. What should Congress’ role be in the abortion conversation?
When the Trump-packed Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, they destroyed a half-century of precedent to convert a fundamental right into a crime for tens of millions of women. It was a dark day for our constitutional democracy and a terrifying day for the rights of our wives, daughters, mothers, sisters and friends.
Over the past two years, more than 20 states have imposed dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women at risk, force patients to travel hundreds of miles for access to treatment, and threaten to criminalize doctors and nurses simply for doing their jobs and providing life-saving care. More than one in three women of reproductive age now live under an extreme Trump abortion ban.
While MAGA Republicans promote a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions and J.D. Vance favors a criminal ban on interstate travel to obtain health care, I’m proud to have introduced the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which would protect patients who cross state lines to obtain a legal abortion, as well as anyone who helps them travel. I am also a proud co-sponsor of both the Women’s Health Protection Act and the Right to Contraception Act to codify Roe v. Wade and safeguard access to contraceptives so women can make their own choices about their bodies, their lives and their families.
We must codify Roe v Wade and defend this fundamental freedom against continuing judicial and political attack by right-wing extremists in Congress and that Trump put on the Court.
The same Supreme Court decision has raised concerns about marriage rights and gender-affirming care access for LGBTQ+ people. How should Congress address this?
In 2012, it was my honor to lead the floor fight in the Maryland State Senate for marriage equality. We became the first state in the nation to pass marriage equality without being told we had to do so by our state Supreme Court, the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to pass it, and then the first to defend same-sex marriage at the ballot box. It’s been my honor to fight for equality as vice chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus in the 117th Congress. But while we’ve made tremendous progress in the past decade, Republican state legislatures are still working zealously to turn law and government into instruments of hostility and opposition towards LGBTQ+ youth. I’m a proud member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and remain an unshakeable ally of the LGBTQ+ community, which has struggled against pervasive legal and social discrimination and continues to fight for equal rights in the workplace and in every domain of social life.
What should Congress’ role be in addressing a changing climate?
Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act delivered the most significant climate action in our nation’s history to accelerate private investment in clean energy solutions, cut carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, reward families with rebates for energy-efficient choices, and create safe and good-paying jobs for our workers. In the two years since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, companies have announced $265 billion in new clean energy investments and created over 300,000 clean energy jobs in nearly every state. Last year alone, 3.4 million Americans benefited from $8.4 billion in IRA tax credits to lower the cost of clean energy and promote energy efficiency upgrades, with savings of up to 30% on clean energy technologies like heat pumps, insulation, and rooftop solar. Since January 2024, over a quarter million Americans have also claimed the IRA’s electric vehicle tax credits, saving around $1.5 billion, with nearly all buyers claiming the incentive at the point of sale.
I’m proud of the bold and effective action we’ve taken on climate change—but we are just getting started in addressing this colossal challenge as the world faces record drought, record wildfires, record flooding and record ocean rise. We need to build on the Paris Climate Accord to lead strong and sustained global action, scientific innovation and dramatic reduction in carbon emissions to create long-term survivability for the human species.
How should Congress address gun violence?
We need to address the out-of-control epidemic of gun violence that threatens the peace in every community in my district and every city and town in America. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in America, the only wealthy nation in the world where this is true. As ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, I have led numerous roundtable discussions and efforts to mobilize cross-party support for change. I am working to enact common-sense gun safety laws, such as a universal background check for violent criminals and the criminally dangerous, and a ban on military-style assault weapons. All of the experience I had fighting for the Maryland Firearm Safety Act in Annapolis in 2013 has been beneficial to my leadership and knowledge on this topic in Congress.
In the House of Representatives, I helped pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years to help toughen background checks for young gun buyers, to incentivize states to create red-flag laws, to keep firearms away from domestic abusers and to invest in school safety and mental health programs.
Is there anything else you want to share with prospective voters?
The 2024 election is a crucible for democracy in a world overrun by autocrats like Putin and Xi, kleptocrats like Donald Trump, theocrats like Mohammed Bin Salman, and plutocrats like Elon Musk. I’m proud that Democrats are throwing everything we have into building a landslide victory for strong democracy and freedom. This election is about keeping alive the blessings of liberty for our posterity.
Cheryl Riley
Party: Republican
Age: 59
City/town of residence: North Bethesda
Education: Montgomery College, University of Maryland
Current/most recent role: Public relations strategist
Previous political experience: Candidate for Montgomery County Council District 4 in 2022
Why are you running?
I’m running because I want to make things better for my neighbors and the country at large. Montgomery County is where my father and his six siblings grew up. It’s where I grew up. And it’s where I live and work today. However, though I love this community, it’s seen better times. People can’t afford the quality of life their parents enjoyed. They feel unsafe. There’s a sense the world order this country had established is falling apart. I’m running because I don’t want to sit idly by while our country goes to ruin. We can do better.
If elected, what would your priorities be within your first 100 days in Congress?
My biggest priorities for my first 100 days in Congress are supporting legislation that secures the border, strengthens our criminal justice system and reduces inflation.
What district-specific issues are you most passionate about and how would you use your platform to address them?
In the district, people are suffering from crime and struggling with the affordable housing crisis. If elected, I would use my platform to address these issues as often as possible and work with my colleagues at the state and local level to identify and support legislative and community solutions.
What do you think Congress’ role should be when it comes to public schools? What can you do to best support the schools?
Congress has a responsibility to ensure our public schools serve their purpose: education. So much discussion surrounding the role of public schools at the moment is tied up in discussing culture war pet projects and grievances, when it should rather be focused on how to best impart the education the next generation needs to succeed. We need to fight for public schools that actually teach the basics as well as practical skills. And all the while, we need to fight to make sure the concerns of parents are neither dismissed nor neglected.
How should Congress address crime?
Congress should remember that our criminal justice system is there for the sake of justice and not criminals. We have to enforce the law and to do that we actually have to punish the people who break it. That is, we have to fight crime as aggressively as the IRS collects taxes.
How should Congress address gun violence?
Congress should address gun violence like any other type of violence: by aggressively supporting policies that bring criminals to justice.
The Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade has changed the face of reproductive care access across the country. What should Congress’ role be in the abortion conversation?
Abortion is both a very important and divisive issue. While I don’t personally support it, I believe that its legality is a discussion best had on the state and not federal level. That said, Congress should make sure taxpayer dollars are not being used to fund abortions.
The same Supreme Court decision has raised concerns about marriage rights and gender-affirming care access for LGBTQ+ people. How should Congress address this?
Members of Congress need to communicate clearly with their constituents about these important issues. With regard to marriage, I don’t think Congress needs to make any hasty alterations to the status quo. However, with regard to serious and often irreversible medical interventions, Congress needs to act quickly to protect children. There is a world of difference between recognizing the freedom of adults to make certain choices and allowing people to make those same choices for children.
What should Congress’ role be in addressing a changing climate?
The environment is important, especially in the long run. But if we don’t address many of our legislative problems now there will be no long run. That is, before Congress can have the luxury of addressing concerns about our climate, it has to address the changes happening right now that are endangering our safety, peace and prosperity.
Is there anything else you want to share with prospective voters?
I’d like to share that though I’m a Republican, I hope to represent everyone: the people who support me, the people who don’t, and even the people who’ve never heard my name. Whenever someone goes to Congress with only some of their constituents in mind, they fail at their job. If I win, whether you’ve voted for me or not, I’m putting you first.
