Montgomery County’s Will Jawando announces bid for Cardin’s US Senate seat

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Montgomery County Council member Will Jawando announced his bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by longtime Maryland Senator Ben Cardin in 2024.

"I’m running for the US Senate because I believe we can build a shared prosperity in Maryland that lifts everybody up and leaves no one behind. That would be really big," he said in a statement released Tuesday.

Will Jawando, a member of the Montgomery County Council, speaks during a rally on the National Mall on May 31, 2021 in Washington, DC. Members and allies of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community are speaking out in response to a rise i

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The Silver Spring native was elected and sworn-in as an at-large Montgomery County councilmember in 2018.

He also founded Our Voices Matter-Maryland, a social justice non-profit, and spearheaded Montgomery County’s summer job shadowing program.

Will Jawando’s full statement announcing his bid for the U.S. Senate: 

Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in a video message to Marylanders this morning.

"There’s a Big Lie in America. No, it’s not about Donald Trump or his delusions that he won the election — the real Big Lie, the one you feel every day, that pits neighbors against neighbors, it's the one that says, ‘For you to do well, I have to do worse,’ that we can’t take care of each other, and still prosper, that if some people get ahead everyone else has to be left behind," Jawando said in the video. "I’m running for the US Senate because I believe we can build a shared prosperity in Maryland that lifts everybody up and leaves no one behind. That would be really big."

Serving as an At-Large Montgomery County Councilmember, Jawando has served over 1.1 million Marylanders for the past 5 years, fighting for working families by passing legislation to get rent down, building more affordable housing, tackling racial injustice and building better schools.

Jawando is a civil rights attorney and formerly served in the Obama White House as Associate Director of Public Engagement and at the U.S. Department of Education as an advisor to Secretary Arne Duncan. Jawando’s critically acclaimed memoir, "My Seven Black Fathers" was released in 2022 and offered reflections on mentorship and service throughout his life.

Grounded by his faith and strengthened by his family, Jawando’s most important titles are father and husband. His wife Michele and him are raising their 4 children in Montgomery County.

To his supporters about this morning’s announcement, Jawando expressed, "I learned at an early age what it means to be an American that the country would just as soon leave behind. So now, when I see inequities that hold so many of us back — whether the Black uber driver, the white factory worker, the single mom, or the family just trying to get by — I never look away. Dismantling the deep economic and racial barriers that hold our country back is my life's work. I know that the United States Senate is one of the most effective places to continue this work."