Potomac-area voters will pick a new Montgomery County Board of Education member on Tuesday, Nov. 3, when Sally McCarthy and Cassandra "Cassi" Sung face off for the District 3 seat.
The seat is open because board member Julie Yang is running for County Council, according to MyMCMedia. Five candidates originally filed for the District 3 race. McCarthy and Sung advanced from a nonpartisan primary in June.
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m., according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. Anyone in line by 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
The winner will help set policy for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), hire the superintendent and approve the district budget, according to The Baltimore Banner's voter guide. The race is nonpartisan, and all registered voters countywide are eligible to cast ballots.
The candidates
Sally McCarthy, 55, holds a Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Maryland, College Park, and describes herself as self-employed in education research, according to a Washington Family voter guide published by the University of Maryland's Local News Network. She said she has 25 years of experience as an education policy professional and served as a PTA president and Montgomery County Council of PTAs board member and budget chair, according to the Banner's voter guide.
McCarthy said she wants the board to strengthen oversight of MCPS spending and align budgets to the district's strategic plan. She also raised concerns about state math curriculum changes under the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, saying new middle school requirements could eliminate elective courses in foreign languages and the arts, according to the Washington Family guide.
Cassandra "Cassi" Sung, 39, lives in Potomac with her husband and two young children. She works in systems and data implementation at a law firm, according to the Bethesda Beacon. In the Beacon's candidate questionnaire, Sung said she is running "because every family deserves to be heard, and too many feel they are not."
Sung identified technology in the classroom and budget decisions as the top issues facing MCPS, according to the Washington Family guide. She called for a public budget tracker tying every dollar to a stated board goal and said she supports a screen-time and technology audit that would cover artificial intelligence tools.
Endorsements
McCarthy has picked up endorsements from the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which placed her on its Apple Ballot, according to MCEA's endorsement list. The Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors (GCAAR) also endorsed McCarthy, marking the first time the group backed candidates in a school board race, according to Moderately MoCo. Gov. Wes Moore and Progressive Maryland also recommended McCarthy, according to the Sway voter guide.
Sung received an endorsement from Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund's Gun Sense Voter program, according to the Bethesda Beacon.
Where to find results
Unofficial results are expected to appear after polls close at 8 p.m. on the Maryland State Board of Elections results page. Montgomery County results will be posted on a dedicated county page linked from that index.
