Rose Krasnow, former mayor of Rockville and 2018 candidate for County Executive, has endorsed David Blair for Montgomery County Executive. Blair and Krasnow were two of the six Democratic candidates for County Executive in the 2018 primary.

Marc Elrich won the Democratic primary with 37,532 votes. David Blair finished second, 77 votes short of Marc Elrich, with 37,455 votes, and Krasnow finished third with 19,644 votes. They were followed by Roger Berliner, George Leventhal, and Bill Frick.

“When I first met David, I was really struck by the effort he spent to come up with solutions for the problems that the County faces,” Krasnow said. “He has run a very successful company and as I’ve always said, there is really a big difference between serving on a legislative body and serving as an executive. David has executive leadership experience. As the person at the top, the executive has to have vision and the ability to sell that vision and ability to make things happen.”, according to a press release from David Blair’s campaign.

“Rose Krasnow is an outstanding public servant with incredible knowledge of Montgomery County. I am grateful for her support,” Blair said. “It was a privilege to learn from her four years ago on the campaign trail. She has invaluable insight into the importance of growing good-paying jobs, is committed to protecting and expanding opportunities for women, and knows how the county government should work together with municipalities to serve our residents.”

Krasnow served as mayor of the City of Rockville for three terms. She was Montgomery County’s deputy planning director from 2013 until she ran for County Executive in 2018. Krasnow is also the former president of Montgomery Women, a nonprofit that supports and promotes women leaders in elected office, business, education, nonprofits, and government.

The Democratic Primary for County Executive is  June 28, 2022 and Early Voting runs from June 16, 2022 through June 23, 2022.

Retail and restaurant news, specifically openings and closings, is a big part of what we cover at The MoCoShow. In November of 2020 we released a list of restaurant closures that occurred since March 17th of that year, the start of the pandemic.

Our list of closures were not necessarily caused by the pandemic, since there is no way to determine every reason behind a closure, but 17% of restaurants (over 110,000) closed from the time it started until our November article, according to Business Insider.

David Blair, Democratic candidate for Montgomery County Executive, today released his plan to create a thriving business environment for restaurants.

The plan can be seen below:

After announcing his campaign for Montgomery County Executive, Blair convened a Restaurant Roundtable of local restaurant owners and operators to hear their experiences of doing business in Montgomery County. These insights led to the creation of Restaurants Are Better With Blair policies.

“Perhaps no industry was hit harder during the COVID-19 pandemic than restaurants and it troubled me that the county government imposed restrictions without input from restaurant owners and operators,” Blair said. “Many of the restrictions were inconsistent with surrounding jurisdictions and the county whipsawed restaurateurs with last-minute changes that made it difficult – if not impossible – to run a business.”

The full plan is available on the Blair campaign’s website; highlights include:

• Opening up Montgomery County’s Depression-era liquor monopoly to competition, giving restaurateurs choice in where they procure their alcohol.

• Ensuring Montgomery County regulations are comparable to regulations in surrounding jurisdictions and not duplicative of state or federal rules.

• Creating a simplified restaurant inspection process with no room for misinterpretation, guaranteeing turnaround times for licenses and permits and holding inspectors accountable.

• Consolidating Montgomery County’s small-business development programs and expanding opportunities for restaurateurs to secure capital.

• Transforming the County’s Agricultural Reserve into a more viable source of food for restaurants by creating local food processing facilities and expanding opportunities for wineries, breweries, and distilleries.

• Expanding childcare, including pre-K, early childhood education, and afterschool programs, so parents can work with the assurance their children are well cared for and learning.

Recently, the Blair campaign shared these policies with more than 1,100 restaurant owners and operators in Montgomery County

The Democratic Primary for County Executive is set for June 28, 2022 with Early Voting from June 16, 2022 through June 23, 2022.

Current County Executive Marc Elrich has announced that he will run for re-election, County Councilmember Hans Riemer announced his candidacy, and County Council President Tom Hucker formed an exploratory committee ahead of his expected run.

David Blair Launches Campaign for Montgomery County Executive

Per a press release sent out by his campaign:

Local businessman and philanthropist David Blair, today announced his campaign for Montgomery County Executive. In a video to supporters, Blair vowed to bring a new vision, collaborative leadership, and financial discipline to tackle the tough challenges we face on equity, inclusion, jobs, health care, education, and other vital issues.

“Our current County Executive took office and failed to address our most pressing issues, and then COVID hit. Since then, we’ve fallen farther and farther behind,” said David Blair. “Montgomery County can and should be doing better.”

In 2018, Blair ran an inspiring campaign for Montgomery County Executive and came just 77 votes short of winning the primary. For the last three years, Blair has continued to support civic and nonprofit organizations throughout Montgomery County to end poverty and homelessness, promote healthy living, empower children with disabilities, and provide quality early childhood education.

Blair, founder of the Council for Advocacy and Policy Solutions (CAPS), also serves as a board member and acts in an advisory capacity to several nonprofits including the Bipartisan Policy Center, a nonprofit organization focused on improving challenges facing the public sector; the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit committed to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth; the Universities of Shady Grove; and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.

Blair continued, “We can’t go back to the way things were before COVID. To build back better we need new ideas, a new vision for the county, and the commitment to make it happen. I’ll collaborate with our talented County Council and community leaders to take on our toughest challenges.”

David Blair was born and raised in Montgomery County. He and his wife, Mikel, are raising their six children here.

Blair started his business career in Rockville over 20 years ago. He founded Catalyst Health Solutions, a health care company that provided millions of Americans with more affordable prescription drugs and better access to health care. Catalyst received accolades for the quality of its products and services and the outstanding benefits its employees received under his leadership. Blair retired from Catalyst in 2012 and is dedicated to philanthropy and public service.