Sally A. McCarthy Wins District 3 Seat on Montgomery County Board of Education

Sally A. McCarthy has won the District 3 seat on the Montgomery County Board of Education, according to unofficial results from the State Board of Elections. McCarthy had 131,237 votes (68.07%) to 58,176 (30.17%) for Cassandra “Cassi” Sung as of 10:31 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, a lead of 73,061 votes.

Moderately MOCO is calling the race based on the vote count. About 38,534 mail-in ballots were left to count in Montgomery County as of 6 p.m. Nov. 2, according to the State Board of Elections’ ballots-left-to-count report, fewer than McCarthy’s lead. Results are unofficial until every ballot is counted and the county certifies them.

Every Montgomery County voter could vote in this race. Elected school board members are chosen “by the voters of the entire county,” and a district member must live in the district, under state law. The race appears on the ballot without party labels. Results by vote type are on the State Board of Elections’ Montgomery County results page.

The candidates

Sally A. McCarthy and Cassandra “Cassi” Sung both answered Moderately MOCO’s candidate questionnaire: read McCarthy’s answers and Sung’s answers.

In the June primary for District 3, McCarthy received 61,300 votes (47.32%) and Sung received 22,575 (17.43%), according to official primary results. Three other candidates also ran. The top two finishers advanced to November.

An open seat

Julie Yang holds the District 3 seat now, and her term expires in 2026, according to the board’s member page. Yang won the County Council’s District 1 seat, unofficial results show, so McCarthy will be new to the board.

The Board of Education has seven elected members and a student member, under state law. Elected members serve four-year terms starting Dec. 1. The board sets policy for MCPS and acts on its budgets, according to the board’s website. Results for the other school board seats are on our live results page.

What’s still to count

The Montgomery County Board of Elections resumes counting Thursday, Nov. 5, then counts Nov. 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to its canvass schedule. Each session is livestreamed. The board says the dates are subject to change.

Provisional ballots are counted at a later canvass. A mail-in ballot postmarked by Nov. 3 still counts if it is received by 10 a.m. Nov. 13, under state regulations. Local boards release new results each day they count after Election Day, the State Board of Elections says.

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