Scott Goldberg, Elected to the County Council, Talks Housing, Jobs and Schools

Scott Evan Goldberg, a Democrat, won one of the four at-large seats on the Montgomery County Council, according to unofficial results. Moderately MOCO talked with Goldberg on election night, before any results had come in, about what he wants to do on the Council.

The interview is also on Facebook and Instagram. Interview by Jason Makstein for Moderately MOCO.

Before the first results

The interview took place before the first results were posted. “We’re very optimistic about the results,” Goldberg said. “Everyone is hitting refresh on their phones every five seconds, waiting for the first results to come up.”

Housing, jobs and schools

Asked about his top priority if he won, Goldberg said, “When we started this race, we wanted to make Montgomery County a place where young people can be prosperous, because you cannot have a thriving democracy unless young people see a lot of hope in the future.”

“So we’re going to work on housing. We’re going to work on expanding our economy so there’s more jobs and opportunity,” Goldberg said. “We are going to amicably but aggressively make sure our school system is the top-tier quality that Montgomery Countians deserve.”

From third-grade reading to the trades

Asked what a top-quality school system would mean, Goldberg said it means “we are closer to a path of getting 100% of kids on math and reading proficient in the third grade.”

“It means we are expanding our pre-K opportunities, but it also means that we have specialized programs in STEM, in career readiness, the trades,” he said.

“In Montgomery County, we’re hard on our school system, but we need to celebrate our wins, too, and we need to find that balance,” Goldberg said.

The results

Voters could choose up to four candidates for the four at-large seats. Goldberg had 237,549 votes (23.20%), according to the State Board of Elections’ Montgomery County results page, last refreshed at 10:56 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5. The other three Democrats, Marc Elrich (234,619, 22.91%), Laurie-Anne Sayles (237,898, 23.23%) and Karla Silvestre (235,157, 22.96%), also won seats in the unofficial results. Republican Sherwin Wells had 72,481 votes (7.08%).

Results are unofficial until every ballot is counted and certified, and the order of the four winners is not final. Moderately MOCO called the race on election night; our at-large County Council results story has the details. Goldberg introduced himself to readers during the campaign in our candidate introduction series.

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