Andrew Friedson is maintaining a strong financial lead over his competition for the top political office in Montgomery County, with more than $1.8 million cash on hand, according to campaign finance reports released Wednesday.

The District 1 councilmember has amassed more than $2 million since he launched his campaign for county executive. That’s nearly three times the total of the next-highest fundraiser in the race, at-large Councilmember Will Jawando.

Friedson — unlike Jawando and the other councilmember running for county executive, Evan Glass — has declined the county’s public financing option. Public financing boosts campaign coffers with county dollars but forbids contributions from political action committees, labor unions and political parties, among other groups.

Jawando said he encountered technical issues with the state elections board website this week, so the numbers his campaign was required to submit by Wednesday’s filing deadline could not be checked against those it provided to The Banner.

According to Jawando’s campaign, he has raised $706,215 since launching. He cited more than 2,000 individual contributions totaling $205,261. That earned him $500,954 in public finance matching funds.

Glass has raised $656,127. This includes $145,611 from more than 1,500 individual donations, which will be matched with $510,516 in public funds.

Jawando’s campaign provided The Banner emails it exchanged with state campaign finance officials about how the website would not accept his filing. A spokesperson for the state elections board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Public financing shade

Candidates who accept financing from the public election fund get $7 for each dollar of the first $50 of a qualifying contribution received from a county resident, $4 for each dollar for the second $50, and $2 for each dollar for the third $50. The limit on public funds is $870,170 per candidate per election.

Jawando and Glass appeared to take aim at Friedson’s choice to accept corporate money in separate press releases Wednesday.

“While others rely on big checks, we’ve built this campaign one $25 and $50 donation at a time,” Jawando said. “Montgomery County created public financing so regular people could have a voice in elections, not just the wealthy few.”

Glass said 97% of his contributions came from county residents.

“This campaign runs on people power — not special interests,” he said. “Money can’t buy this level of grassroots momentum.”

Friedson highlighted in a Wednesday press release that he received more than 1,600 contributions in the first two weeks of January, which he also called “grassroots momentum.”

Contributors ”want a leader with a proven record of getting big things done,” Friedson said.

Shelly Skolnick, the only Republican to have entered the race, reported a balance of $1,000. Records for Democratic candidate Mithun Banerjee were not immediately available.

At-large races

In the packed races for four at-large seats on the County Council, Scott Goldberg is the financial front-runner, according to campaign filings.

Goldberg, CEO of a real estate management company and a substitute teacher, has raised nearly $180,000 since November 2025.

None of the 12 other at-large candidates raised more than $54,000 in the last reporting period.

Goldberg has raised nearly $258,000 since January 2023.

District races

School board member Julie Yang, who is running for the District 1 seat, stood out among the candidates running to represent one of the county’s seven council districts.

She raised more than $167,000 in the most recent reporting period, bringing her total to $248,000 since January 2023.

Another District 1 candidate, Drew Morrison, a senior policy adviser in the Maryland Department of Transportation, raised the next-highest amount: more than $86,700.

Talia Richman contributed to this story.

Correction: The chart in a previous version of this story did not include all contributions to Karla Silvestre. It has been updated to show all at-large County Council candidate fundraising totals from January 2023 to January 2026.