The race for the most competitive Montgomery County Council seats will be shaped, at least financially, by thousands of dollars contributed from donors not eligible to vote in the county — and by some who don’t live on the same coast.
Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, D-at large, received two-thirds of her contributions this year from donors who don’t live in Maryland, according to campaign finance reports released this week. In her bid to retain one of the four council seats representing the entire county, she has banked more than $71,000 in donations this year. Nearly $47,000 came from out-of-state sources, including $37,500 from California.
“You know, if you actually count up the individual donations, you’ll see most people that give me money live in Montgomery County,” she said, defending the money raised this year and attributing it to her previous work on health and women’s issues nationwide.
She was mid-Atlantic regional director for the National Organization for Women and a Progressive Maryland board member. Critics previously attacked Trachtenberg for her out-of-state fundraising, saying she was being showered with money because of well-known activism for the transgender community.
“I haven’t had one fundraiser in the LGBT community,” she said Thursday. “You can print that. Sure, some of the contributions come from there. But it’s only part of it.”
Trachtenberg sponsored county legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity. And a transgender aide in her office sued the county for $5 million earlier this year, saying it broke the anti-discrimination law she helped craft.
The national outreach certainly gives the councilwoman a financial edge over fellow candidates.
For example, Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large, has received about $5,000, or 7 percent, of his campaign contributions from out-of-state donors this year. Just one contribution came from outside the D.C. area.
Council President Nancy Floreen received about 17 percent of her $140,000 in contributions this year from out of state. George Leventhal, D-at large, received 14 percent of roughly $100,000 from out of state so far this year, the records show.
Hans Riemer, considered by many political observers as the most likely candidate to oust an incumbent, also received a large chunk of funding from out of state. He has raised about 45 percent of about $133,000 from out-of-state donors, according to campaign finance reports.
