Montgomery County Democratic activists defy party leadership at their endorsement convention

Montgomery County Democrats voted Thursday not to endorse candidates in two local elections this year, after party activists bucked the recommendation of their leadership.

That means there will likely be contested primary elections in May for county commissioner and register of wills.

The vote of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee came after some party activists pushed back on a candidate vetting process they saw as opaque, but which Democratic leaders described as rigorous and fair.

» READ MORE: ‘Ashamed’: Montco Democrats are facing backlash over their county commissioner succession plan

That process began in earnest after Democrat Val Arkoosh resigned last month as chair of the county Board of Commissioners to join Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration, and fellow Democratic Commissioner Ken Lawrence Jr. announced he wouldn’t seek reelection to the three-member board.

Their departures amount to the largest leadership shake-up since Democrats took control of county government in 2012. Montgomery County is the state’s third largest by population, behind only Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, and voter turnout there has become key for statewide races.

East Norriton supervisor Jamila Winder, 44, was appointed to serve the last year of Arkoosh’s term. Party officials also coalesced behind state Rep. Tim Briggs, 53, of King of Prussia, to succeed Lawrence.

But while rank-and-file Democratic activists voted at the party’s convention Thursday in Plymouth Meeting to endorse Winder in the May primary election, they declined to do the same for Briggs — defying the recommendation from party leadership. An endorsement requires a 60% vote under the party’s rules.

Instead, a majority of almost 500 committee members voted to hold an “open primary” for the seat — meaning no candidate will get the party’s endorsement. While an endorsement doesn’t guarantee a candidate’s success, in practice it discourages others from running.

The vote was seen as a victory for Neil Makhija, a 36-year-old lawyer from Lower Merion who is also vying for commissioner.

“I think people really respected our hustle, willingness to show up in every corner of the county, make literally hundreds of phone calls, and show up in dozens of Zooms over recent weeks,” Makhija, who teaches election law at the University of Pennsylvania and runs an Indian American civic group, said in an interview Friday. “Because they believe in the democratic process and they respect a candidate who’s willing to go out there and fight for every vote.”

Briggs on Friday said he’s “very proud of my record of fighting for the county I love and raised me, and I look forward to continuing that fight.”

“I have a 30-year track record of serving the party, 15 years of public service,” Briggs said. “To have my intentions questioned — it was a challenge.”

The party on Thursday also voted not to endorse in the race for register of wills. The incumbent, D. Bruce Hanes, isn’t seeking reelection. Party officials had recommended attorney Tina Lawson, 59, of Fort Washington, for an endorsement, but rival attorney Hilary Fuelleborn, 42, of Jenkintown, had enough support among the full committee to get an open primary.

Party chair Jason Salus had warned against open primaries.

In an email Thursday to committee members before the vote, Salus said the gathering would be “perhaps our most consequential endorsement convention in the modern Montgomery County Democratic Party.”

“The choices we make tonight will say a lot about who we are and what values we espouse,” Salus wrote in the email, which was viewed by The Inquirer. Open primaries, he said, “leave a wide opening for rich self-funders, perhaps people who have not yet even announced their candidacy, and special interests to come in through the back door.”

Montgomery County Republicans are set to hold their endorsement convention on March 1. One person who says he’s prohibited from attending: Commissioner Joe Gale, the lone Republican on the county governing board. (One seat is reserved for the minority party.)

Gale, 33, of Plymouth Meeting, announced his reelection campaign Friday, saying he has served as “a watchdog for families and taxpayers of all political affiliations who feel disenfranchised by the stranglehold of big spending, far-left Democrats.”

First elected in 2015 without his party’s support, Gale said the county GOP “would love to return to the days in which a lapdog for the Democrat majority occupied the Republican County Commissioner seat.”

Former Montgomery County GOP chair Liz Preate Havey said four people have “indicated they would like the support of our 650 committee people for the position of county commissioner.”

“Joe Gale is not one of them,” she said. Havey said Gale declined an invitation to seek the endorsement.