Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) announced Saturday during the Talbot Avenue Bridge Lantern Walk in Silver Spring that he plans to run for an at-large County Council seat, Montgomery Community Media first reported.
Elrich could not immediately be reached for comment Monday morning.
Elrich is facing his final two years in office after voters passed a term-limit referendum on Election Day that will amend the county charter to restrict the county executive to serving two terms. Elrich is serving the second year of his second four-year term, which will end in 2026.
The next council election will be held in 2026. Elrich previously served as an at-large councilmember for three terms from 2006-2018. Prior to that, he served on the Takoma Park City Council from 1987-2006.
Nearly 68% of county voters cast a ballot in support of the referendum on Nov. 5, according to results posted by the Maryland State Board of Elections.
An initiative resulting in the referendum was sponsored by the Committee For Better Government, which is led by Reardon Sullivan, a former Montgomery County Republican party chair and unsuccessful 2022 GOP county executive nominee. The committee gathered enough valid signatures earlier this fall to have the referendum placed on the ballot, despite criticism from the county’s Charter Review Commission.
The referendum will amend the county charter to limit a county executive to serving two consecutive terms instead of three consecutive terms. That limit, which also applies to councilmembers, was approved by voters in 2018.
Elrich criticized the ballot referendum as a ploy from Republicans to push him out of office.
“You’ve got Republicans who couldn’t beat me one on one, the developers couldn’t beat me one on one. They faced an election in two years. The best strategy was to try to use term limits to knock me out,” Elrich told MoCo360 on election night. “They didn’t tell people that the executive already had term limits … they’re smart enough to lie and misrepresent the truth, because that’s where Republicans stand.
This is a developing story.
