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A RESIDENT BROADSHEET. Not authorized by, affiliated with, or coordinated with any candidate or campaign committee.
Vol. I  ·  No. 1 Bethesda  ·  Chevy Chase  ·  Potomac  ·  Kensington Primary: June 23, 2026

District 1 Residents Against Andrew Friedson

He represented us. You don't want him to represent you.
Council District 1 · Montgomery County, MD Sourced & Footnoted Throughout Price: Your Attention
From the residents of his own district

He represented us. That's how we know he shouldn't represent you.

We wanted to like him. We put up his signs. This is the part that's hard to say out loud.

By the residents of Council District 1  ·  Written with more sorrow than anger

A lot of us voted for Andrew Friedson. We told our neighbors he was sharp, hard-working, good in a meeting. Some of that is still true.

But representing a place means listening to it. And on the decisions that reshaped our own streets — what gets built next door, who gets protected, whose money does the talking — he stopped listening to us.

Time and again, when our neighborhoods asked him to slow down and study the impact, he sided with the people who profit from building fast. We're writing it down because the instincts that shaped his record here would shape how he runs the whole county.

Everything here is sourced. Where we couldn't fully verify something, we say so. We'd rather lose an argument than tell you something untrue.

IN THEIR OWN WORDSVoices from District 1

"He has not been our representative."

Statements District 1 residents gave us directly, reproduced exactly as written. Start here — everything that follows is the record behind them.

He did not listen to our concerns. He has not been our representative. — Donald H., District 1 resident 3
…a wolf in sheep's clothing. — Chevy Chase resident Liz B., handing out flyers at a packed listening session Friedson co-hosted (Bethesda Magazine / MoCo360)21
I don't trust Andrew Friedson to listen to MoCo residents. — Rebecca H., Bethesda resident
"In a nutshell, Friedson totally turned his back on his constituency when he endorsed and pushed for passage of the AHSI and then bold face LIED directly to our faces in a Chevy Chase town meeting by saying he would ALWAYS keep us informed, that nothing was on the agenda for passage, and then turned around a week later and held a news conference announcing More Housing Now. It's easier to trust our current president than Andy Friedson." Gerald S., District 1 resident
"I don't support Andrew Friedson, because he led the effort to intrude multifamily housing into our single-family neighborhoods, without so much as an adequate investigation of the adequacy of our aging infrastructure to cope with it. He did not listen to our concerns, and the policy he authored allowed developers, who support his candidacy, to join three lots together to construct large apartment buildings, in spite of his earlier assurances to the contrary. He has not been our representative. In contrast, Will Jawando listens to citizens and keeps commitments. He is best qualified to be County Executive." Donald H., District 1 resident 3
"I don't trust Andrew Friedson to listen to MoCo residents. He betrayed District 1 voters on zoning, parks and bike lane issues in favor of out-of-state interests and will do the same county-wide if elected County Executive. Will Jawando values our input and will work with us, not against, in his stewardship of economic growth." Rebecca H., Bethesda resident
Andrew Friedson listened to the big money developer interests, and not to the residents of District 1. As a District 1 resident who saw this behavior first-hand, I urge the County residents not to repeat our mistake. — Kevin B., District 1 resident
Andrew Friedson hasn't stood with our neighborhoods on planning and zoning. Instead, he has backed organized development interests. — L., District 1 resident
EXHIBIT ZEROThe Nexus, Drawn · Follow Any Spoke

One wheel. Every spoke ends in the same pocket.

Each policy below sounds like its own thing. Hover or tap one — and watch where the benefit actually rolls.

The mechanism
Pick a spoke.
policy  →  loophole  →  developer profit

Eight separate policies. One destination. Hover any node on the wheel — or tap, on a phone — and we'll show you exactly how that "good government" idea turns into money for the people who fund his campaign.

All eight are sourced in the sections below.
Hover a spoke · tap on mobile
EXHIBIT APlanning & Zoning · Our Own Streets

He didn't stand with our neighborhoods.

He led the effort to put apartment buildings on single-family lots — without studying whether our streets, sewers, and schools could take it.

Friedson was a lead sponsor of "More Housing N.O.W." (ZTA 25-02), the zoning change that lets developers build duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and apartment buildings on lots that had been single-family — along designated corridors running straight through our neighborhoods, the University Boulevard corridor among them.1

The policy he authored lets developers combine up to three adjacent lots into parcels big enough for apartment buildings — which residents say broke his earlier assurances.2 And it advanced without the traffic, stormwater, sewer, school, or emergency-services studies neighbors kept asking for. At a town hall, residents say he admitted the traffic studies were never done.2

Andrew Friedson has a different agenda than what his constituents want. — A District 1 resident, in a constituent email quoted by Montgomery Perspective 7

He isn't the only one. Across the district, neighbors organized — petitions, packed hearings, listening sessions where reporters described the response as "overwhelmingly negative."4

He sells the change as housing for working people — so that our teachers, firefighters, police officers, and nurses can afford to live in our community.23 But the fine print requires only 15% of the new units to be affordable (for 20 years, up to 120% of area median income). The other 85% is market-rate — the very $1M apartments and $2M duplexes neighbors warned about.23

Nowhere is the fight clearer than the University Boulevard corridor. Friedson's separate corridor plan there passed the Council 7–3 in December 2025 — over three colleagues' objections — and only after residents fought the original map down from rezoning 200-plus homes to about 45.30

Nearly 1,000 local residents had signed a pledge to vote against any council member who supports the plan. — testimony at a packed September 2025 University Boulevard hearing30
~100
properties on one Bethesda avenue that could be "chained" together for larger buildings, per a resident petition.5
0
traffic studies completed before the rezoning advanced — with hundreds of units already going up nearby.5
8–3
the Council vote to approve the change. Friedson voted yes, over loud opposition in the room.6

What it looked like in the neighborhood

Opposition was out in the open — stickers, flyers, and signs at hearings and listening sessions reading things like "Press pause to Montgomery County re-zoning."8

Construction site amidst suburban houses
Construction pushing into established neighborhoods — what density-first policy looks like on the ground. Photo: Pexels
Residents protesting with signs and placards
Residents rally against development plans — a scene repeated at MoCo zoning hearings. Photo: Pexels
Crowded auditorium with diverse audience
Packed hearings became the norm as neighbors pushed back on Friedson's rezoning agenda. Photo: Pexels

He chairs the parks committee. He still didn't stand up for our parkway.

Andrew Friedson chairs the County Council's Planning, Housing & Parks Committee — the committee with oversight of the very park system that runs Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda.34 So when neighbors fought to keep their own parkway from being permanently cut down for cars, the one member with both the district seat and the gavel was Friedson.

For years, residents and drivers in his district objected as Little Falls Parkway was narrowed from four lanes to two near the Capital Crescent Trail crossing. The fight went all the way up: the County Executive even moved to defund the project.35 But in January 2024 the Council voted to make the reconfiguration permanent — and Friedson, their representative and the parks committee's chair, voted to approve it rather than stop it. Construction began in 2025.35

More: What "Affordable" really means in his legislation →

EXHIBIT A · CONT'DOur Schools · The Bill Comes Due

His plan makes our schools weaker, not stronger.

More students, less money to teach them — built right into the policy.

Our schools are already overcrowded. Friedson's signature zoning change pours new density into the very same neighborhoods — more children in the same buildings — without the school-capacity study residents and the county's own civic federation asked for.526

Bethesda Elementary is so overcrowded that students were offered mid-year transfers to neighboring schools.— Montgomery County Civic Federation, warning the Council that ZTA 25-02 advanced with no school-capacity study26

Here's the part every parent should sit with: the new buildings won't pay their way. The PILOT bills he sponsored exempt qualifying new development from property taxes for 15 to 20 years.14 Property taxes are the biggest local source for our schools' operating budget — the teachers and the classrooms. So the county gets the new students now, and the tax revenue maybe in two decades.

And as Council President, he pushed through changes that exempt some new development from impact taxes and let developers pay later — enacted over the County Executive's veto.20 Impact taxes are the money growth chips in for the roads, sewers, and school capacity it demands.

Add it up: more strain, less revenue, a steeper climb to catch up on school capacity and classroom funding. The growth he is fast-tracking doesn't pay for the schools it fills — our existing taxpayers do.

And don't be sold on "record school funding," either. Most of that increase is automatic: state "maintenance of effort" law makes this year's per-pupil spending next year's floor, so the county is required to raise the number every year. Taking credit for a legal minimum isn't leadership.24

Follow it
20 yrs
how long new development can go paying no property tax under his PILOT bills — the tax that funds our schools.14
Studied: no
school capacity was among the impacts neighbors say were never studied before the rezoning advanced.5

More: The full safeguard-removal timeline & infrastructure gap →

EXHIBIT BRenters · The Backstop That Wasn't

When renters needed protection, he voted against it.

In July 2023 the Council passed rent stabilization — a cap to keep rents from spiking on tenants. Friedson was one of the votes against it, and pushed a weaker, landlord-friendlier alternative instead.9

His argument is that limiting rent increases discourages new construction. Reasonable people can debate that. But look at who stood on each side: the renters who wanted protection lost; the property owners who wanted a freer hand won. Same destination as everything else here.

And the trade doesn't add up. Rent stabilization shields roughly 65,700 rental units — tens of thousands of Montgomery County households — from sudden spikes right now, today.25 Against that, the county builds only about 3,300–3,600 new units in a good year — and as few as 724 in a bad one.25 He weighed certain protection for tens of thousands of families against, at most, a sliver of future construction.

~65,700
rental units protected from rent spikes today — under the cap he voted against.25
3,300–3,600
new units the county builds in a good year — a fraction of what's already protected.25
Exhibit B
"I still have significant concerns that we have gone a little too far here…" Andrew Friedson, on rent stabilization, as reported by Montgomery Community Media 10

More: Which landlord donors opposed rent protections →

EXHIBIT COur Advocate · Land-Use Fights

He tried to take away the one lawyer who fights for residents.

When a developer wants to rezone or build near you, the People's Counsel is the attorney who represents residents in those land-use fights — the only built-in advocate ordinary people have.

Friedson introduced a bill to replace that attorney with a non-attorney "resource officer" who could not actually advocate for or against any position. County Executive Elrich called it "a step back." Residents would lose their advocate; developers facing community opposition would have an easier path.11

THE LEDGERFollow The Money · Campaign Finance

Who has been funding all of this?

He turned down the county's small-dollar public financing — so he could take the big checks.

Friedson declined Montgomery County's public-financing system — the one that limits you to small-dollar donations from residents — and raised money the traditional way, which lets him accept large checks from businesses, PACs, developers, and landlords.12

$1.66M
raised in 2024–2025 alone, per his Maryland state filings.13
$357,453
of that from businesses, organizations & PACs — not individual residents.13
$6,000
the maximum single check — and many real-estate donors gave the max.14
A sample account — donors who gave, and the votes that helped them
Real-estate donorGaveA Friedson action that helped them
RST Development (Copeland family)$12,000Lifted the Bethesda development cap; corridor upzoning
Minkoff Development (Chod family)$15,000+PILOT bills: 100% property-tax exemption up to 20 years
White Star Investments (Bajaj)$6,000Eliminated parking minimums near transit; cap lift
Cornerstone Capital$6,000Voted against the recordation tax on homes over $600K
Finmarc Management (Solomon)$6,000Voted against rent stabilization; More Housing N.O.W.
EYA LLC$5,000Parking elimination — $70K–$100K saved per space
MBIA Builders PAC$7,000+Pro-developer votes; tried to remove the People's Counsel
Southern Management (landlord)$3,500Voted against rent stabilization on 70,000+ units
To be fair: dollar figures are verified from filings; the matching "action that helped them" is the public legislative record. We're showing you a pattern, not alleging a signed deal. You can decide what it adds up to.

And then, three months before the primary, the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors — who had publicly thanked him for killing the luxury-home recordation tax — endorsed him.15

And the pattern isn't new. His first big developer tax break dates to his first term — the 2020 Metro-station PILOT, 15 years of 100% property-tax exemption, which he pushed through over the County Executive's veto.33

Even the green stuff. Friedson restored and championed roughly $20M/year for the Green Bank and authored green-building tax credits.16 Greener buildings are good — but ask the nexus question: who collects those credits? The same developers and large property owners.

Follow one donor: the $100 million exemption at Grosvenor.

You don't have to take the pattern on faith. Pick a single donor and trace it all the way through.

At the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro station, on land owned by Metro, a company called Fivesquares Development is building Strathmore Square — roughly 2,000 apartments where a Metro parking lot used to be.36 Fivesquares was co-founded by Andy Altman and Ron Kaplan.36

In 2020, the County Council created a brand-new break for exactly this kind of project: a 15-year, 100% county property-tax exemption (a "PILOT") for high-rise housing built on Metro land. Andrew Friedson sponsored it, and the Council pushed it through over the County Executive's veto.33 By the developers' own account, Strathmore Square is "the first project to benefit" from that exemption.36

How big is the break? The bill's own fiscal analysis used Strathmore Square as its worked example and estimated the exemption would cost the county between $87 million and $106.5 million in foregone property tax — for this one project, over 15 years.36

And the people behind that project? They are among Friedson's donors.

The Strathmore Square team → Friedson's campaign (his own MDCRIS filings)
DonorWho they areTo Friedson
Fivesquares DevelopmentThe developer (1377 R St NW)$6,000
Ron KaplanFivesquares co-founder~$6,000
Andrew AltmanFivesquares co-founder~$1,549
TogetherThe team building the first PILOT project~$13,500
$87–106M
county property tax exempted for this one Grosvenor project over 15 years, per the bill's own fiscal analysis.36
~$13,500
from the project's developer and its two co-founders to Friedson's campaign.37
15%
the share of the new units required to be affordable — the public rationale for a 100% tax break on the other 85%.36

It didn't stop there. In 2025 Friedson sponsored a second giveaway — a 20-year, 100% property-tax exemption for converting offices to housing. Will Jawando was the lone "no" vote on the Council, 10-to-1. When the County Executive vetoed the bill, the Council overrode it 9-to-2 — Jawando and Kristin Mink dissenting.38

THE FILINGSFollow the Money · Public Campaign Finance Records

The people funding Andrew also fund the attacks on his opponents.

The developers and landlords maxing out to Friedson are bankrolling the Super PAC flooding your mailbox and TV against his opponents — Will Jawando and Evan Glass. Every dollar below is from public filings with the Maryland State Board of Elections.

There's a developer-funded Super PAC — the "Affordable Maryland PAC" — running television ads against both Will Jawando and Evan Glass, the two candidates standing between Friedson and the job. Its recent TV buys against Jawando alone top $765,000 in the weeks before the primary.19 It is legally separate from Friedson's campaign. But look at who pays for it.

28 of its 58 donors — 48% — also wrote checks straight to Friedson. The same names. Across the candidate and the two pro-developer Super PACs in this race, the combined spending tops $5 million, and the overlapping donors account for roughly $1.13 million of it.19

$5.0M+
combined spending across Friedson's campaign and the two pro-developer Super PACs in this race.19
48%
of the attack-PAC's donors also gave directly to Friedson — the same people, both ends.19
$765K
in recent TV ads that PAC ran against Will Jawando (with more aimed at Evan Glass), paid for by that shared donor pool.19
Donors writing checks to both — the PAC and Friedson. District 1 addresses in bold.
DonorTo the PACTo FriedsonCombined
B.F. Saul Company / family$150,000$3,533$153,533
Polinger family — 5530 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase$100,000$16,033$116,033
Bernstein family + companies — 4800 Hampden Lane, Bethesda$100,000$33,404$133,404
Southern Management Companies$50,000$6,750$56,750
EYA LLC — 4800 Hayden Lane, Bethesda$45,000$6,000$41,000
Foulger-Pratt / Bryant Foulger$25,000$1,033$26,033
Stonebridge Associates — 7373 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda$15,000$9,535$24,535
Chevy Chase Land Company — 5471 Wisconsin Ave, Chevy Chase$40,000$3,592$23,592
White Star Shoppes — 7904 Woodmont Ave, Bethesda$10,000$12,000$22,000
Nicholas Gordon — 7007 Georgia St, Chevy Chase (MRP Realty)$5,000—$5,000
Gingery LLCs (5 shell companies, adjacent PO Boxes, GOP operative)$75,000+$56,000+$131,000+
Promark / 451 Hungerford LLCs (9 same-day, same-address entities)$50,000$11,000+$61,000+

And it goes deeper than individual checks. A cluster of five LLCs sharing adjacent Rockville P.O. boxes gave $75,000+ to the PAC — all linked to Monte Gingery, a developer who doubles as the Montgomery County GOP's 2nd Vice Chair. Gingery's LLCs also gave roughly $56,000 directly to Friedson's campaign — making Friedson the only Democrat in his entire donation history. He gave $10,750 to the Republican in Friedson's old Council seat, $1,500 to Trump-endorsed Dan Cox, and $80,000+ to Republican party committees.19

Then there's Matan Companies, the I-270 corridor developer that gave $2,588 directly to Friedson. Matan owns $128 million in I-270 land marketed for data centers — and Friedson is the only major candidate opposing a data-center moratorium, a position that directly protects Matan's pipeline.19

Meanwhile a second developer-aligned Super PAC, the Realtors' IEC, spent $512,000 in just two weeks — $150,730 of it boosting Friedson directly, through a DC consulting firm called Donohoe Partners.19

The tenant records his donors don't advertise

Some of his biggest backers have track records that sit uneasily next to a housing platform:

Donor tenant and legal records — public filings and court settlements
DonorTo Friedson + PACWhat's on the record
Equity Residential (ERP Operating LP)$50,000$56M rent-price-fixing settlement (RealPage antitrust, Apr 2026); $22.7M unlawful late fees (CA, 200K tenants); $2M DC "rent hike scam" (AG enforcement); $2M illegal move-in fees (MA).
Bernstein Management$133,000+Class action (Jul 2024) for hidden $150/mo AC fees across 16 rent-stabilized buildings in DC — fees designed to push controlled rents toward market rate. DC Rental Housing Commission case on record.
B.F. Saul Company$153,533$210,000 EEOC settlement — fired an employee one week before her scheduled breast cancer surgery after refusing reasonable accommodations.
Southern Management$63,500+Documented tenant complaints at MoCo properties: substandard units, mold, roach infestations, intimidation via private security, denial of rent assistance through county agencies.

Want the full financial cross-reference?

Every donor, every LLC, every vendor — 60 sourced citations from public SBE filings.

andrewfriedson.org → Full campaign finance analysis
THE PRICE TAGBefore Friedson · After Friedson

What living in Montgomery County cost before his policies — and what it costs now.

Andrew Friedson took his Council seat in December 2018. Since then he has championed every major developer tax break, eliminated school building moratoria, and cut impact fees. Here's what happened to the numbers.

Montgomery County — 2018 vs. 2026. All figures from Census ACS, county records, and state data.
What you pay2018 (before)2026 (now)Change
Median rent$1,788/mo$2,097/mo+17%
Median home sale price~$421,000~$600,000++43%
Average electricity bill~$134/mo~$176–181/mo+35%
Property tax rate (county, per $100)$0.7414$1.026+38%
County budget$5.6 billion$7.6 billion+36%
Impact tax revenue$60.8M (FY14 peak)$15.6M (FY24)−74%
MCPS enrollment163,500~156,500−7,000
Renters paying 30%+ on housing—47%Severe
Cost of living vs. U.S.Above avg38.5% aboveWorsening

Everything on the left went up. The one thing that should have gone up with it — impact tax revenue from new development — collapsed by 74% because Friedson cut the rates, eliminated the moratoria, and deferred payments. The gap between what developers pay and what growth costs gets filled by you — through higher property taxes, overcrowded schools, and deteriorating infrastructure.

And his first act as County Executive? Expand the developer fast-track countywide.17

Full cost-of-living breakdown with projections →
Sources: Census ACS 2019 & 2024 (rent); Zillow/Redfin (home prices); EIA/EnergySage (electricity); MoCo Dept of Finance (tax rates); Montgomery Perspective (impact taxes); Bethesda Magazine (MCPS enrollment); BestPlaces.net (cost of living index).
THE TALLYThe "Fiscal Hawk" · Eight Budgets

He calls himself a budget hawk. The ledger says otherwise.

In eight years on the Council, Friedson has never filed a single named amendment to cut a specific program or department — and he voted for every final county budget as spending grew by about a third.17

He'll oppose a tax-rate increase in a headline. He's never been able to name, concretely, what he'd actually cut — it's always "efficiencies," "repurposing vacancies," "zero-based budgeting." Meanwhile he proposed well over $100M in new spending himself.17

Every final budget — and how he voted
Fiscal yearCounty budgetChangeHis vote
FY20$5.8B—YES
FY22$6.0B+3.4%YES
FY24$6.7B+6.3%YES
FY26$7.6B+7.0%YES

Net: roughly $5.8B → $7.6B on his watch — about a 31% increase — with zero named program cuts to show for the "hawk" label.17

THE FINE PRINT"No Tax Hikes" · Read It Again

He's selling "No Tax Hikes." He won't actually promise it.

"No Tax Hikes" is the centerpiece of Andrew Friedson's campaign — on the mailers, in the ads, the whole fiscal-hawk brand.

So a reporter asked him the obvious question: how far into the future does that pledge cover, if you're elected? He wouldn't commit. He invoked George H.W. Bush's famous broken promise — to explain why he wasn't making one.22

"The absolute last resort" is not "never." The mailer says one thing; in his own words, he's keeping the door open.

In fairness: he frames a tax increase as a last resort, not something he's planning. We're not putting words in his mouth — we're quoting him in full so you can read the "No Tax Hikes" promise next to the asterisk he put on it himself.
His words
"My view is tax increases should be the absolute last resort. I am not philosophically opposed to saying that we shouldn't look at revenues ever at any point. This isn't a 'read my lips' situation." Andrew Friedson, asked how long his "No Tax Hikes" pledge lasts — Bethesda Magazine Q&A, May 27, 2026 22
ON THE GRIDData Centers · A Pause He Won't Take

On data centers, he won't hit pause — during a drought.

Look one county over to see what we'd be rushing into. Then remember the Potomac is already running low.

A massive data-center campus — about five buildings and roughly 300 megawatts — is proposed for the old Dickerson power-plant site in our Agricultural Reserve, and it would draw Potomac River water to cool its servers.29 The question is simple: study what that does to our grid, our water, and our bills first — or wave it through. Friedson opposes a moratorium.18

We don't have to guess what's coming. Next door in Loudoun County, Virginia — "Data Center Alley" — the state's own watchdog found data centers driving power demand to double in a decade, and projected to add $14–$37 to a typical household's monthly electric bill by 2040.27 Neighbors half a mile away call the noise "intolerably loud." Data-center drinking-water use there jumped more than 250% in four years.27

And Maryland is in a drought. The Potomac — about 75% of our region's drinking water — was under a renewed drought watch as of June 2026, and water managers warn the regional supply "could fail to meet the needs of the region as soon as 2030" in a severe drought.28 A single large data center can drink up to 5 million gallons a day.28 Why add that strain now, in a hurry?

Next door
"Your residential electricity costs will go up because of data centers, full stop." Va. State Sen. Danica Roem, on the Loudoun County experience27
$14–$37
added to a typical monthly electric bill by 2040 in Virginia — per the state's own study.27
5M gal
a day — what one large data center can draw, while our Potomac runs low.28

Both of Friedson's opponents want to take a breath — a six-month pause and a two-year pause to study it first — and the current County Executive already hit pause for six months. Friedson is the one who won't.29

More: Matan's $128M land deal, electricity bills, noise lawsuits, and the drought →

THE RECORDAt A Glance · When It Mattered

Where did he stand, when it counted?

The issueWhat residents / renters wantedFriedson
Rent stabilization (6% cap, 2023)Protection from rent spikesVoted NO
More Housing N.O.W. / ZTA 25-02 (2025)Pause & study infrastructure firstLead sponsor · YES
Recordation tax on homes > $600K (2023)Fund schools & rental helpVoted NO
People's Counsel (residents' lawyer)Keep the advocateTried to remove
PILOT tax breaks for developers—Sponsored (≤20 yrs)
Public campaign financingSmall-dollar, resident-fundedDeclined
Data-center moratoriumPause & studyOpposed
"What residents/renters wanted" reflects the positions taken by neighborhood petitions, tenant advocates, and constituents cited on this page — not a claim that every resident agreed.
Editorial

Andrew isn't the one.

We don't think Andrew Friedson is a villain.

We think he's the wrong person for this job — someone whose instincts, again and again, run toward the people building and buying, and away from the people living here.

A County Executive sets the direction for all of Montgomery County: every neighborhood, every renter, every family who can't write a $6,000 check. After eight years of watching him represent us, we can't tell you he's someone you can rely on, or trust, with that. We wish we could.

He represented us. Please don't let him represent you.

— The residents of Council District 1 · June 2026
THE CLIPPINGSIn The News · In The Hearings

We're not the only ones saying it.

A sampling of the reporting on Andrew Friedson's record — and the neighbors who showed up to oppose it.

In the news

In the hearings

Some outlets block automated archiving; a few quotes above are drawn from search results and should be opened in a browser to read in full context.

PASS IT ONShare This · Talk To Your Neighbors

Hand this to your neighbor.

No donation, no sign-up — just the facts and a conversation. In a local race, the most powerful thing is a neighbor you trust.

Save any of these, post them, or text one to someone on your street. Every claim on them traces back to the sources below. Then do the one thing that actually settles this: vote on June 23 — and bring a neighbor.

He represented us. That's how we know. $765K in attack ads against Jawando and Glass, funded by Friedson's own donors. 48% of the attack-PAC's donors also give to Friedson. 65,700 renters could be protected; Friedson voted no. No Tax Hikes asterisk — he won't rule out raising them. Data centers drink 5 million gallons a day during a drought; he won't pause. Every Friedson policy ends in the same pocket: developers and big property owners.

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APPENDIXCitations & Methodology

Show your work.

We'd rather you check us than trust us. Every claim traces back to a public record.

  1. More Housing N.O.W. / ZTA 25-02, lead sponsorship and substance — Montgomery County Council legislation record; council session video, July 22, 2025: granicus clip 18132.
  2. Combining up to three lots; town-hall acknowledgment that traffic studies were not done — resident petition and constituent accounts (see #5, #7). Town-hall admission is residents' characterization; not independently confirmed on video.
  3. Donald H. quote — provided by a District 1 neighbor.
  4. "Overwhelmingly negative" listening-session response — WJLA/ABC7, Jan 13, 2025: coverage.
  5. Petition, "Pause Rezoning in More Housing N.O.W. Bill and ZTA 25-02" (Rebecca H.): change.org (~100 properties; no traffic studies; units under construction).
  6. 8–3 approval vote — Bethesda Magazine, July 22, 2025: "Council votes 8-3 to approve controversial housing zoning change."
  7. "Different agenda"; Irv Lieberman — Montgomery Perspective (Adam Pagnucco), Oct 7, 2025: "Does Friedson Have a Problem in His District?"
  8. "Press pause to re-zoning" stickers/flyers at listening sessions — Bethesda Magazine, Sept 26, 2024 (search-snippet sourced; page returns 403 to automated fetch): bethesdamagazine.com/2024/09/26/zoning-changes-major-opposition-at-bethesda-listening-session/
  9. Rent stabilization (Bill 15-23) final 7–4 vote, Friedson among the NO votes; weaker alternative — county press release linking the July 18, 2023 video: Item 43734; video, ~4:43:42.
  10. "…gone a little too far here…" — Montgomery Community Media: "Council Approves Rent Stabilization."
  11. Bill to replace the People's Counsel with a non-attorney "resource officer"; Elrich "a step back" — MoCo360/Bethesda Magazine, May 17, 2023: bethesdamagazine.com/2023/05/17/bill-would-eliminate-attorney-in-favor-of-land-use-resource-officer/
  12. Declined county public financing; traditional financing allows PAC/corporate/developer money — Bethesda Magazine, June 27, 2025: campaign-finance report; Baltimore Banner.
  13. $1.66M total and $357,453 from business/org/PAC contributors — our tally of "Friedson, Andrew Friends of" (Entity ID 1011839) Maryland MDCRIS filings, 1/1/2024–12/31/2025 (2,383 contributions). Raw file on request.
  14. $6,000 maximum; specific developer donations and matching actions — MDCRIS filings + Bethesda Magazine (#12) + opposition brief compiled from the public Council record. Dollar figures verified; "action that helped them" is the public legislative record, not proof of a quid pro quo.
  15. GCAAR (Realtors) thanked him on the recordation tax, then endorsed him (March 2026) — Bethesda Magazine: bethesdamagazine.com/2026/03/20/greater-capital-area-association-realtors-endorses-friedson-moco-executive/; recordation-tax coverage: bethesdamagazine.com/2023/05/11/recordation-tax-increase-okd-for-homes-sold-at-prices-over-600000/
  16. Green Bank (~$20M/yr) restored; green-building tax credits — Green Buildings Now Act press release: Item 39968.
  17. No named program-cut amendment in 8 years; voted for every final budget; ~31% growth ($5.8B→$7.6B); $100M+ in new initiatives — Montgomery County budget records and council votes (FY20–FY27). FY26 statement: Item 47068; FY27 tax opposition: Item 48394.
  18. Opposes data-center moratorium; clean-energy pledge; industrial-zone siting; ratepayer protection — Montgomery Community Media, June 10, 2026: data-center debate; CCAN Action Fund pledge: declaration; county principles: Item 48385.
  19. Super PAC donor overlap, $5.0M+ combined spending, 48% dual donors / ~$1.13M, and TV ads opposing both Jawando and Glass (~$765K in recent buys against Jawando) — donor & vendor overlap analysis of Maryland State Board of Elections filings for Friends of Andrew Friedson (Filer 1011839), Affordable Maryland PAC (Filer 13014854), and GCAAR MD IEC Super PAC (Filer 13015392), all filings through Pre-Primary 2 (June 12, 2026); cross-referenced via campaignfinance.maryland.gov. Factual compilation of public filings; no coordination alleged — filings show zero shared vendors between the candidate committee and the PACs.
  20. Development impact-tax changes — Expedited Bill 16-24 with the 2024–2028 Growth & Infrastructure Policy (enacted Nov 12, 2024; Friedson was Council President & Planning/Housing/Parks Committee chair): new exemptions (office-to-residential conversions, bioscience) and collection deferred to final inspection, reducing developer costs; Council overrode Executive Elrich's veto, Dec 2024. Montgomery Planning; Bethesda Magazine, "policy aims to limit burdens for developers" (Feb 5, 2025); veto override (Dec 10, 2024); county release Item 46145.
  21. "Wolf in sheep's clothing" — Chevy Chase resident Liz B. describing the attainable-housing proposal while handing out flyers at the Sept 26, 2024 Bethesda listening session (co-hosted by Friedson as Council President). Bethesda Magazine / MoCo360 (Elia Griffin), Sept 26, 2024: bethesdamagazine.com/2024/09/26/zoning-changes-major-opposition-at-bethesda-listening-session/ Only the phrase "wolf in sheep's clothing" is her direct quote.
  22. "No Tax Hikes" pledge vs. "this isn't a 'read my lips' situation" / "not philosophically opposed to … look[ing] at revenues" — Bethesda Magazine Q&A with Andrew Friedson, May 27, 2026: bethesdamagazine.com/2026/05/27/qa-with-county-executive-candidate-andrew-friedson/
  23. "Teachers, firefighters, police officers, and nurses" quote, and the 15%-affordable requirement (20 years, up to 120% AMI; the other 85% market-rate) for ZTA 25-02 — Montgomery Community Media, July 23, 2025; county press release Item 47394 (July 22, 2025).
  24. "Record" school funding is largely automatic — Maryland's Maintenance-of-Effort law makes each year's per-pupil spending the next year's required floor — Montgomery Perspective (Adam Pagnucco), Jan 25, 2024: "The County Council's Ultimate Power Over the School Board."
  25. Rent-stabilization coverage vs. housing production — ~65,669 rental units subject to the law as of Dec 31, 2025 (rising toward ~67,200 in 2026), against ~136,000 renter households countywide [Montgomery County Office of Rent Stabilization report via Bethesda Magazine, Feb 20, 2026; U.S. Census ACS 2024, Table B25003]; the county produces ~3,300–3,600 net new units/yr (2024–25; target 2,472), with annual permits ranging 724–3,656 [HAND Housing Indicator Tool; Census Building Permits Survey]. No pre-passage estimate of construction "lost" to the law was ever produced; the post-2024 multifamily-permit drop is real but causally disputed (pre-deadline permit rush, interest rates; county planners cite the rolling 23-year exemption date, not the cap). [Brookings review of rent-control evidence; Baltimore Banner]
  26. School overcrowding and the missing impact study for ZTA 25-02 ("Bethesda Elementary … mid-year transfers"; the impact formula "calculates little to no impact of children from apartments") — Montgomery County Civic Federation letter to the County Council, June 12, 2025: montgomerycivic.org.
  27. Loudoun County ("Data Center Alley") impacts — Virginia's legislative watchdog JLARC (Dec 9, 2024): power demand could double in a decade; a typical residential bill could rise $14–$37/month by 2040 (jlarc.virginia.gov). Sen. Danica Roem "full stop," plus 41%/183% figures — Bay Journal, Dec 11, 2024. Noise "intolerably loud" — Loudoun Now, Apr 16, 2026; 90 dB measured — NBC4, Mar 23, 2026. Drinking-water use up 250%+ (2019–2023) — Grist, May 8, 2024.
  28. Maryland drought + data-center water use — Maryland Dept. of the Environment drought watch/warning including the WSSC / Montgomery County service area (Nov 2024, Apr 2025); renewed regional drought watch June 2, 2026 (MWCOG, via FFXnow); ~87% of the Potomac watershed in drought, May 2025 (Potomac Conservancy). Regional supply "could fail to meet the needs of the region as soon as 2030" in extreme drought; the Potomac is ~75% of regional supply — ICPRB, Dec 5, 2025 (potomacriver.org). A large data center can use up to 5 million gallons/day — EESI, Jun 25, 2025.
  29. The Dickerson "Atmosphere" data-center campus (~300 MW, ~5 buildings, former coal-plant site in the Agricultural Reserve; would use Potomac River water for cooling) — WTOP, Dec 19, 2025; Southern Maryland Chronicle, Mar 10, 2026; WAMU, Nov 18, 2025; county zoning case CU 24-13(a)(A). Moratorium bills: Glass's Expedited Bill 19-26 (6-month) and Jawando's Bill 24-26 (2-year), public hearing June 16, 2026; County Executive Elrich enacted a separate 6-month pause (WTOP, June 2026). Jawando: "you can't unbuild these things" — Fox 5 DC, May 12, 2026.
  30. University Boulevard corridor — included in the More Housing N.O.W. corridor upzoning, plus the separate University Boulevard Corridor Plan (Montgomery Planning), approved by the Council 7–3 on Dec 9, 2025 (no: Jawando, Mink, Katz; WTOP, Dec 9, 2025). The original map was scaled back from rezoning 200+ homes to ~45 fronting the boulevard after Northwood–Four Corners Civic Association testimony (nfcca.org/mocoplan.html). "Nearly 1,000 local residents had signed a pledge to vote against any council member who supports the plan" — Kemp Mill resident testimony at the packed Sept 16, 2025 hearing (Moderately MoCo, Sept 16, 2025).
  31. First-term developer tax break — More Housing at Metrorail Stations Act (Bill 29-20, 2020): 15-year, 100% property-tax PILOT for residential on WMATA-leased land; enacted 7–2; County Executive Elrich's veto overridden Oct 27, 2020. County release Item 28010; LIMS Bill 29-20.
  32. Andrew Friedson has chaired the County Council's Planning, Housing & Parks (PHP) Committee since 2022 — the committee with jurisdiction over the county's parks system (Montgomery Parks / M-NCPPC). Montgomery County Council — Councilmember Andrew Friedson, District 1.
  33. Little Falls Parkway (Bethesda) "road diet" — Montgomery Parks reduced the parkway near the Capital Crescent Trail crossing from four lanes to two, beginning as a 2017 interim safety measure after cyclist Ned Gaylin was killed at the crossing in 2016 (Vision Zero); supporters report a large drop in crashes. The Planning Board approved a permanent two-lane design (4-0-1) on Apr 27, 2023; County Executive Elrich moved to defund it (May 2023); the County Council approved a permanent "compromise" configuration in January 2024, with construction beginning in 2025. Coverage: Bethesda Magazine/MoCo360, "Road diet … approved by Montgomery Planning Board" (May 1, 2023), "Elrich moves to defund …" (May 4, 2023), and "… 'compromise' moves forward in Montgomery County Council" (Jan 24, 2024); Montgomery Parks project page (montgomeryparks.org).
  34. Strathmore Square at Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro — a WMATA joint-development project on Metro-owned land (former parking lot), master developer Fivesquares Development (co-founders Andy Altman and Ron Kaplan; 1377 R St NW, Ste 350, Washington DC 20009), ~2,000+ residential units. "As the first project to benefit from Montgomery County's newly adopted 15-year real estate tax abatement for high-rise residential development at Metro stations…" — Aimco/Fivesquares grand-opening press release (aimco.com); confirmed by the Maryland Dept. of Planning blog ("the first TOD project to benefit from the legislation," Apr 4, 2023, mdplanningblog.com), which also reports the Bill 29-20 Fiscal Impact Statement modeled Strathmore Square at an estimated $87M–$106.5M in foregone county property tax over 15 years. WMATA Grosvenor-Strathmore Joint Development page (wmata.com); UrbanTurf "Strathmore Square"; WTOP, Oct 2024. The 15% affordable / ≥50% rental terms are set by Bill 29-20. The abatement is identified as Bill 29-20 by description (it is the only such county program); we did not obtain a signed PILOT agreement naming the project, but the bill's own fiscal analysis uses it as the worked example.
  35. Donations from the Strathmore Square team to "Friedson, Andrew Friends of" (Entity ID 1011839), per Maryland MDCRIS filings: Fivesquares Development $3,500 (12/26/2024) + $2,500 (12/29/2023) = $6,000; Ron Kaplan (co-founder, 1357 R St NW — same block as the firm) $5,000 (10/27/2025) plus monthly $250 contributions ≈ $6,000; Andrew Altman $1,548.95 (11/17/2025). Other "Kaplan" entries in the file (Samuel/Leslie/Susan, Woodmont Ave, Bethesda) appear to be an unrelated household and are not included here.
  36. Office-to-Housing Conversion PILOT — Bill 2-25: a 20-year, 100% county real-property-tax exemption for qualifying office-to-housing conversions (≥17.5% of units at ≤60% AMI). Lead sponsors Natali Fani-González and Andrew Friedson; passed 10-1 with Will Jawando the sole "no" vote; County Executive veto overridden 9-2, with Jawando and Kristin Mink dissenting. County releases Item_ID 46855 and 46945 (montgomerycountymd.gov).

How this was made: compiled from Montgomery County's public legislative and budget records, Maryland state campaign-finance filings (MDCRIS), and reporting by Bethesda Magazine/MoCo360, Montgomery Perspective, the Baltimore Banner, WJLA, and Montgomery Community Media. Some Bethesda Magazine pages block automated reading, so a few items are sourced from search results and need a final manual read before publication. Characterizations are labeled as such; quotes are reproduced as given to us. Find an error? We want to fix it.