Takoma Park's Marc Elrich Kicks Off County Executive Campaign

TAKOMA PARK, MD — Takoma Park resident and County council member Marc Elrich, 67, announced he's running for Montgomery County executive in 2018, The Washington Post reports.

The at-large County Council member and Democrat kicked off his campaign for the top leadership position in the county at The Barking Dog in downtown Bethesda, surrounded by over 100 supporters.

“I want to set forth a cooperative path forward with people in the community and people in the county government,” he said. “I want to make sure this works for you. And I promise you I will not disappoint you. No money from developers."

Elrich joins fellow council member and Takoma Park resident George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) in the 2018 Democratic primary. Council President Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda) will most likely join the race as well.

Current County Executive Ike Leggett must step down after voters approved term limits last year.

Elrich led Montgomery County's 2013 passage of a gradual increase in the county minimum wage, from $7.50 to $11.50 an hour by this July. He was also the lead sponsor of a measure that would've extended the wage to $15 by 2020, which Leggett vetoed.

As a Rolling Terrace Elementary School math teacher for 17 years, Elrich said at his launch party: “I like to remind people I have not become part of the government. I have a government office. I’m still a community activist and I still represent the side of the community I came from,” according to Bethesda Magazine.

Elrich also touched on his efforts to protect neighborhoods against gentrification by pushing for rent stabilization; his push for legislation to protect tenants' rights approved by the council last year and his involvement in bringing the bus rapid transit network to Montgomery County.

“You got to bring communities back into the planning process,” Elrich said. “This process that we have is broken. The planning department is little more than a real estate development wing of the development industry."

"All they talk about is how tall are the buildings and how much can you put here. And when you say what about the parks, what about the schools, what about the transportation, they say ‘Oh, we have to plan for that down the road.’ ”

Photo: Montgomery County