Montgomery County, PA Commission: Five Democrats and three Republicans are competing Tuesday in a pair of competitive party primaries for the three-member Board of Commissioners for Montgomery County, a populous community in suburban Philadelphia. All three Commission seats are elected countywide, but each party may only nominate two candidates: There's little question, though, that the two Democrats who take the most votes this spring will go on to win seats on the Commission for what's become a heavily blue community.
Appointed Democratic Commissioner Jamila Winder, who is the first Black woman to serve on the body, has formed a ticket with Whitpain Township Supervisor Kimberly Koch and urged voters to select both of them. (The other Democratic incumbent, Ken Lawrence, is retiring.) Winder and Koch, whose joint win would make them the first team of women to run the county, each has endorsements from the local Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, and prominent local party donors.
Only Winder has the backing of the county Democratic Party, though, and the Philadelphia Inquirer says that critics argue that, by forming this alliance with Koch, she “undermine[d] the party’s decision not to endorse for the second seat.” That move came in February when the party leadership originally planned to support both Winder and state Rep. Tim Briggs only for party delegates to vote to issue no endorsement for anyone but Winder following a contentious convention. Briggs ultimately decided to stay out of the race, though the whole matter remains a source of intra-party contention.
The candidate with the most money by far is attorney Neil Makhija, whose backers helped stop that Briggs endorsement from happening and whose $840,000 haul through May 1 was more than what his four opponents took in combined. Makhija, who has endorsements from Sen. John Fetterman and former Gov. Ed Rendell, would be Pennsylvania's first Asian American county commissioner.
Makhija’s detractors have highlighted how Makhija only relocated from Philadelphia a few years ago, a decision the move says he and his wife made when they decided “this is where we’re going to raise our family.” The other two Democratic contenders are Montgomery Township Supervisor Tanya Bamford and Prothonotary Noah Marlier, a countywide elected official who is in charge of administering civil court documents.
Incumbent Joe Gale, who is the only Republican member of the Commission, is also running again, but his party rebuked him in March by endorsing the other two GOP candidates, former school board member Tom DiBello and Upper Dublin Township Commissioner Liz Ferry.
Gale, who took all of 2% in last year's primary for governor, said he was "banned from attending" the gathering where the party made its decision. He argued he was being punished because the leadership doesn't want him to "share my opinion that endorsements do little more than serve the selfish interests of party bosses who desire to control handpicked candidates and influence the outcome of primary elections."