There are a lot of very liberal people in the area.. They love to have a say in basically everyone else's lives and how they run them. Therefore, they vote for people like Elrich who are all about big invasive govt, lots of red tape, and are pro any candidates who are for tons of more govt regulations.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with many previous posters that it is TP/SS who support Elrich.

And, I think Blair will win this time around - it was so close last time. Reimer is a liar who tells whoever he is speaking to what they want to hear, and Hucker doesn't have enough name recognition.

I wish we had better candidates, not just more of the same. Someone who wasn't beholden to developers, actually cares about educating our children, and doesn't allow every last bit of green space to be developed. Our suburbs are turning into overcrowded cement cities and it's awful.

For those of you living in Montgomery County, ask yourself, why did you move here? Was it to be close to work? Because of the schools? Something else? And whatever the reason, is it still a reason to move here?

We moved here for the schools when our children were young, and too late realized they have been in a downward slide for decades - and this is in an always touted W cluster. We pulled both of our children out, and put them in private school, where they are happy and learning. It does make me crazy that we pay so much to live in Montgomery County, and don't get our money's worth.

Many of us living in Montgomery County were born and raised here. Just saying.

Agree with many previous posters that it is TP/SS who support Elrich.

And, I think Blair will win this time around - it was so close last time. Reimer is a liar who tells whoever he is speaking to what they want to hear, and Hucker doesn't have enough name recognition.

I wish we had better candidates, not just more of the same. Someone who wasn't beholden to developers, actually cares about educating our children, and doesn't allow every last bit of green space to be developed. Our suburbs are turning into overcrowded cement cities and it's awful.

For those of you living in Montgomery County, ask yourself, why did you move here? Was it to be close to work? Because of the schools? Something else? And whatever the reason, is it still a reason to move here?

We moved here for the schools when our children were young, and too late realized they have been in a downward slide for decades - and this is in an always touted W cluster. We pulled both of our children out, and put them in private school, where they are happy and learning. It does make me crazy that we pay so much to live in Montgomery County, and don't get our money's worth.

This is what frustrates me about local politics. These candidates have ideas that sound great. That match our views on things, but they can't manage sh**. Look how Elrich completely botched hazard pay for first responders. Fiscally, he's unbelievably sloppy. He paid the front line folks something like $10 an hour. Paid volunteer firefighters $5 an hour. When neighboring jurisdictions got like $3 an hour (and volunteers didn't get a thing). And they only got it for a few months. MoCo gave theirs away for a year. All the while swearing FEMA will reimburse for hazard pay. I would love to see FEMA reimburse VOLUNTEERS for hazard pay.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/some-council-members-executive-branch-spar-over-fema-reimbursements/

Anonymous wrote:It's basically TP/SS + some union support. In the primary, he won by only 77 votes over the #2 (Blair), and the reason is the field was wide (6 candidates) so the moderate vote got spread out among a few candidates. Elrich courted unions and that paid off.

In MoCo, whoever has a (D) besides their name in the general election wins.

We'd benefit from open primaries, then the top 2 of any party in the primary get to go forward to the general. Makes it more likely a centrist candidate will win.

Agreed. We will never get open primaries but we might be able to get ranked choice voting, and that would help some.

Who actually supports Elrich? Lots of people whom you either aren't talking to, or who don't want to tell you they support Elrich.

Do I think Elrich is the bee's knees? No, although I know people who do. However, I'll vote for him if he's less bad than the other candidates on the ballot, and I'll tell everybody else I know to do so as well. Also, currently, I think he actually is less bad than the other declared candidates. Blair hasn't persuaded me that he's learned anything about government or politics, and Riemer is a petty dude who blew up my last smidgen of positive feeling when he came out in support of the governor's highway plan.

Anonymous wrote:It seems like everyone online can’t stand the County Executive and can’t wait to vote him out. Yet the people I talk to in person think he will win, for better or for worse, something of the “silent majority” effect, that the silent majority is not very online and are mask-wearing, covid-conscious do-gooders who are fine with the county executive, or just default to the incumbent establishment. Everyone I know however who closely follows local politics is frustrated with Elrich to say the least, and their views range from strongly wanting to vote him out, to probably voting for him because the other candidates are so terrible. But is there a “silent majority” who just vote for the incumbent or don’t follow local politics and just kind of go along with it? Where does Elrich expect to get votes if everyone who sort of supports him only does so passively?

+1 for the OP who pointed out his massive advantage as an incumbent. Incumbents hold an unusually strong edge in MoCo historically.

If mask wearing is an indicator of support for Elrich’s COVID policies, then his COVID policies have a lot of support. People stayed masked even outside after the mandate was dropped. The council seems to understand there’s broad support as well. Even Riemer, who goes out of his way to be disagreeable, has been tame in his criticism of the COVID restrictions, and he voted for all the restrictions (“Every. Single. One. Of. Them.,” as the Hans bros might say.)

Apart from Elrich’s COVID policies and incumbency, the makeup of the field heavily favors Elrich. Riemer will take more votes from Blair than Hucker will take from Elrich.

At the end of the day, Elrich has solved no problems, but Blair has no record, and Riemer’s record is a liability because, for example, it’s easier to explain in plain English why subsidies for million dollar condos are a bad idea than it is to explain why they’re a good idea. Moreover, even though Riemer prevailed on nearly every housing issue during his term on the council, housing is more expensive than ever. Elrich will be relentless in pointing this out.

I say all of this as a Blair supporter. We need someone who hasn’t been in elected office to change MoCo’s reputation for being hostile to business.

I am against the tool road (as proposed not any new road projects) so I am with him there.

It's basically TP/SS + some union support. In the primary, he won by only 77 votes over the #2 (Blair), and the reason is the field was wide (6 candidates) so the moderate vote got spread out among a few candidates. Elrich courted unions and that paid off.

In MoCo, whoever has a (D) besides their name in the general election wins.

We'd benefit from open primaries, then the top 2 of any party in the primary get to go forward to the general. Makes it more likely a centrist candidate will win.

Ficker being the mentally deranged other option is why Erlich was elected.

Depends who the other options are.

Anonymous wrote:Agree that it is mostly the silly types in SS/TP, who spent their lives complaining about stuff, and who couldn't a real job if their lives depended on it.

Yeah -- you're on to something here -- that definitely sounds a lot like the Elrich supporter at 14:11, who posted before you -- a scientist married to an NIH scientist.

Agree that it is mostly the silly types in SS/TP, who spent their lives complaining about stuff, and who couldn't a real job if their lives depended on it.

I support all his Covid policies. No idea about the rest, as I don’t usually pay attention to local politics. But for his measured, science-based approach regarding the pandemic, yes, I think he’s clearly a rational person who deserves respect. My husband does virology research at NIH, I’m a scientist myself, and we’re not the type of people to be vocal online or in politics. None of our friends and colleagues are either.

Very liberal folks in Silver Spring/Takoma Park.

People who are very COVID risk-averse and appreciate his shut-downs (mostly people who don't have to go out to a job site to work each day).

The unions and those who support unions.

Those who are liberal but who don't pay close attention to politics.

He has a huge advantage as the incumbent.

It seems like everyone online can’t stand the County Executive and can’t wait to vote him out. Yet the people I talk to in person think he will win, for better or for worse, something of the “silent majority” effect, that the silent majority is not very online and are mask-wearing, covid-conscious do-gooders who are fine with the county executive, or just default to the incumbent establishment. Everyone I know however who closely follows local politics is frustrated with Elrich to say the least, and their views range from strongly wanting to vote him out, to probably voting for him because the other candidates are so terrible. But is there a “silent majority” who just vote for the incumbent or don’t follow local politics and just kind of go along with it? Where does Elrich expect to get votes if everyone who sort of supports him only does so passively?