Silver Spring resident and registered medical assistant Celeste Iroha has filed with the state elections board to run for Montgomery County executive in 2026, she confirmed in an email to Bethesda Today on Thursday.
Iroha, a Democrat, is the first candidate to enter a race that is expected to draw great interest now that County Executive Marc Elrich has been prohibited from running for a third term by voters’ passage of a term-limit referendum in the November general election. The filing period opened Feb. 25.
“I am running for this office because I am one of you. I am a healthcare professional and have been one for the past 8 years; a daughter of immigrant parents who gained their citizenship 32 years ago; a daughter of a veteran who served the country in the U.S. Army for 24 years,” Iroha, 28, wrote in an email statement to Bethesda Today. “I believe in the power of togetherness and the only way we can see our county for the beauty and community we are, is to move forward together.”
According to Iroha’s campaign website, she currently works at George Washington Medicine Primary Care in Silver Spring. She holds a master’s degree in legal studies on the human rights track from Trinity Law School. She has been a board member for HopeWorks, a domestic abuse treatment center in Howard County, since March 2024 and has served as a member of the Victims Services Advisory Board for Montgomery County since September 2024.
Her top campaign issues listed on her website are middle-class jobs, investing in education, skilled trade training, affordable health care and affordable housing.
“We deserve a better politics, a politics that focuses on results, not bickering,” Iroha’s website says. “A politics that helps people, not special interests.”
According to Ballotpedia, Iroha ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Maryland’s 4th Congressional District, but withdrew her candidacy and did not appear on the ballot for the 2024 Democratic primary.
Elrich (D) is facing his final two years in office after voters passed the term-limit referendum that amends 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.
As speculation grows among political observers about who may run for the seat, County Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) has raised more than $1 million, but has neither confirmed nor denied his candidacy. Besides Iroha, nobody has officially announced a run for county executive, but a few other councilmembers have expressed interest. Potential contenders on the council include council Vice President Will Jawando (D-At-large), who has voiced aspirations for higher public office and runs a federal political action committee to fund the campaigns of progressive candidates across the country. Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) has neither confirmed nor denied consideration of a run. Speculation concerning who may run for county executive has also included Rich Madaleno, the county’s chief administrative officer and former state delegate.
The primary election will take place June 30, 2026, and the general election will be held Nov. 3, 2026. The candidate filing deadline is Feb. 25, 2026.
