Marc Elrich Wins Democratic Primary For MOCO County Executive

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich was declared the winner of the Democratic primary for county executive over challenger David Blair, according to recount results certified by the Montgomery County Board of Elections on Wednesday afternoon.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections met to certify the recount results, more than a month after the July 19 primary election.

Elrich won the primary by 32 votes, according to the results of the election recount. The race was even closer than in 2018 when Elrich defeated Blair by fewer than 80 votes in the Democratic primary.

Blair was legally permitted to petition for a recount within three days of the vote’s certification on Aug. 12. A recount also was held in the 2018 primary election, which also confirmed Elrich’s win.

Before the recount requested by Blair, certified results of the primary election showed Elrich with 55,497 votes and Blair with 55,462 votes.

Blair requested a full manual recount of all paper ballots, leading elections board workers to count more than 140,000 ballots starting last Friday.

Blair conceded Wednesday afternoon. “While I may have come in second place in the primary, I’m blessed in life with an incredible wife, family and friends that I adore, more success than I deserve, and a deep desire to give back to the community that I call home,” Blair said in a statement. “No doubt whatever I do next will be focused on improving the quality of life for those who call Montgomery County home.”

Elrich is expected to win reelection in November's general election, with registered Republicans making up only a small percentage of the county’s eligible active voters. He will be facing Republican Reardon Sullivan, who won the 2022 Republican nomination for county executive against Shelly Skolnick.

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