Overview

Marc Elrich was elected as Montgomery County Executive on Nov. 6, 2018. He had previously served three terms (12 years) on the Montgomery County Council as an at-large member, being first elected in 2006. He served as a Councilmember on the Takoma Park City Council from 1987-2006. For 17 years, he was a teacher at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park.

As a County Councilmember, he was the chief sponsor of several landmark pieces of legislation and programs. He led the successful effort to increase the Montgomery County minimum wage in coordination with surrounding jurisdictions to $11.50 an hour and subsequent legislation that will eventually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He was the first elected official to propose building a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system throughout the County to address Montgomery's transportation and environmental problems. Ground was broken in Fall 2018 for the first BRT line, which will run along Route 29.

Throughout his political career, he has been a champion of improving tenants' rights and for making developers pay for a greater share of the infrastructure cost to build schools and transportation solutions. He was a leader in the fight to preserve Ten Mile Creek in the Clarksburg area by limiting the proposed development that would have threatened the health of Montgomery County's last best stream which flows into the County's backup water reservoir.

County Executive Elrich's story

Personal Background

Marc was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to Montgomery County at a young age. He attended McKenney Hills Elementary School, Montgomery Hills Junior High School and Einstein High School. After attending the University of Maryland, he and his wife raised their family in Takoma Park: daughter Jamie and sons Josh, Dougie and John. John and Dougie, who they fostered, have Down syndrome. John still lives with Marc. Jamie, her husband Victor and their children live around the corner from Marc—in a house he built.

Getting Involved in Politics

Marc says his observation of racial injustice is a large part of what motivated him to get involved in politics. Growing up, he witnessed "blockbusting" firsthand when a real estate agent came to his door to talk to his mother. "The idea that my mother was being told that black families moving into a neighborhood would depress the property values and destroy the neighborhood sounded wrong to me then," said Marc.

By 1958 at the age of 9, Marc said most of his friends were black. He had the growing realization was that they were not treated the same way he was and did not have the same opportunities he had. He participated in Dr. King's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and got involved in the civil rights movement. As a student at the University of Maryland, he worked to desegregate the campus bookstore, College Park businesses and local apartments. He also got actively involved in the Vietnam anti-war movement.

He started doing community and tenant organizing in Montgomery County around 1980. In the 1990s he was active in numerous resident efforts for more responsible land-use policies, including the fights to prevent three mall projects from being built in downtown Silver Spring. He advocated for the alternative of build street-facing, street activating retail, which essentially was what was finally built there.

"I ran for elected office because I thought I could make more of an impact on these and other issues in more systemic ways than I could ever make given three minutes to testify in front of a microphone," he said.

Achievements as a County Executive

Marc Elrich was elected as Montgomery County Executive on Nov. 6, 2018. He previously served three terms (12 years) on the Montgomery County Council as an at-large member, first elected in 2006. He served as a Councilmember on the Takoma Park City Council from 1987-2006. For 17 years, he was a teacher at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park. 

County Executive Elrich has been focused on an overarching vision of making Montgomery County a more equitable and inclusive place to live and work.  Since becoming County Executive he has launched the Early Care Initiative – to provide more access to pre-k education to help improve kindergarten readiness, signed the landmark Racial Equity and Social Justice Bill, making Montgomery County the first County in Maryland to do so, launched our 4Business Initiative, opened small business resource centers around the county, and reformed our procurement process adding a preference for local business and making it more transparent and user-friendly, including the “Solicitation Tracker” – which allows people to check the status of any solicitation throughout the process.  He has also undertaken an extensive process to engage residents and experts in addressing climate change. More recently, he has begun a Reimagining Public Safety task force with a diverse group of community members.  Since March he has been addressing the pandemic and the many consequences for businesses, residents and workers.

Experience as an Elected Official and Teacher

Marc was first elected to the Takoma Park City Council in 1987 and served until 2006, when he was first elected to the County Council. As part of the Takoma Park Council, he was involved in immigrant rights, sanctuary legislation, strengthening the city's rent stabilization law, passing a law recognizing domestic partnerships, creating day laborer sites and introducing and passing resolutions opposing both Iraq wars.

From 1989 to 2006, he also taught at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park, one of the highest-poverty public schools in Montgomery County. While teaching, he also attended Johns Hopkins University where he earned a Master's in Teaching. He taught fourth grade for 14 years and fifth grade for three years.

"My experience teaching was what reinforced to me that, if we really want to close the opportunity gap and help kids succeed, we need to address the destabilizing impacts of poverty," said Marc. "Kids experience stress when they don't know where they are going to live the next month, and it is really hard to ask a kid whose stomach hurts on Monday morning because he or she has not eaten a hot meal since Friday lunch to focus on school. I have seen firsthand how helping families economically can have a major impact on kids' lives."