Member Statements on EER09: Endorsement of Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council District 3
Per Section 4 of our bylaws, “The Political Engagement Committee shall be permitted to issue a recommendation and rationale as a body, to be delivered by its chair or their designee, before or during debates on all electoral endorsements and will be allotted additional speaking time if requested to deliver findings from their engagement with the candidate or ballot initiative campaign. This recommendation and rationale will be included along with endorsement ballots sent to members.”
The Political Engagement Committee has issued a recommendation AGIANST endorsing Izola Shaw. The PEC’s full recommendation and analysis can be found here.
In the last Democratic Primary for Montgomery Council District 3, the outgoing term-limited Councilmember Sidney A. Katz won with 9,764 votes (60.69%), and previously won in a two-way race in 2018 with 11,715 votes (52.9%). In 2023, Councilmember Shaw was elected as an At-Large member of the Rockville City Council with 7,612 votes (12.3%), the third highest in a field of 12 candidates. Her estimated win number is 12,000.
Like outgoing Councilmember Sidney Katz who served as Mayor of Gaithersburg before he was elected to the County Council in District 3, Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman has announced that he will be running for this seat. In the 2025 general election, Ashman won a fourth term as mayor with 4,582 votes (73.45%). In the same election, the chapter endorsed and knocked more than 12,000 doors for Gaithersburg City Council candidate Omodamola Williams, garnering just 1,644 votes (13.75%) and coming in fourth place. While Councilmember Katz voted in favor in the 7-4 vote to pass Montgomery County’s rent stabilization law, Ashman is explicitly running on repealing it, meaning this race could change the balance of power on the County Council against one of the branch’s most prominent campaigns and a high priority for the chapter. In stark contrast, Izola has been a strong ally and proponent of rent stabilization as an at-large member of the Rockville City Council and many progressive organizations and unions, as well as elected officials such as District 5 County Councilmember Kristin Mink and County Executive candidate Will Jawando, have already endorsed her or appear likely to. This dynamic makes endorsing in this race a compelling class struggle campaign that would further cleave county politics along class lines, namely the developers and landlords vs. working class multiracial tenants.
The PEC appreciates and recommends continued collaboration between Councilmember Shaw and branch and chapter organizers around rent stabilization, building tenant unions, and other progressive policy priorities, and understands that she meets with MoCo branch members regularly. Izola’s direct involvement in organizing tenant unions in Rockville and the NIH Fellows United campaign strongly indicate an understanding of class struggle. However, in her questionnaire and Q&A the councilmember acknowledges that she is values-aligned but avoids identifying as a democratic socialist and her answers on other issues at times lack specificity and display a reticence to fully align with the chapter’s positions. Additionally, defending our incumbent socialist elected officials, including Del. Acevero, who will be facing an establishment-backed challenge this cycle, is of significant strategic importance for our party-building project. Only a small sliver of District 3 overlaps with State House District 39, and the PEC has assessed that it’s possible we won’t have the capacity to meaningfully intervene in both races simultaneously.
Per section 6.5 of our bylaws, “recognized caucuses shall have the right to publish statements and proposals in public forums for the local, subject to the moderation of that forum.” Metro DC DSA’s Groundwork Caucus has submitted the following statement on Izola Shaw. The caucus’ full writeup and analysis can be found here.
Zola’s campaign should closely fit the class-struggle model. This race has successfully pits a left-labor coalition against the capitalist wing of the Democratic Party. It is centered on a strategic demand we have been organizing around for years: rent stabilization in Montgomery County. She has worked with the MoCo branch in this coalition for years. She has canvassed with the chapter for our endorsed candidates in the past and has a close working relationship with branch leaders. She has a credible path to victory and some real member enthusiasm to canvass for her. The Montgomery County Branch Steering Committee has made a very compelling case for her endorsement.
Why the hesitancy? Fairly simply, we believe candidates who seek our endorsement should publicly and proudly be democratic socialists and DSA members, represent our politics, and abide by our chapter’s democratically decided positions and red lines. During the endorsement process, Zola expressed serious discomfort with this, which has given us real pause. We believe that endorsing her and sublimating ourselves into this left-labor coalition, rather than standing as an independent socialist pole within it, risks repeating a liquidationist error made by many smart radicals in the past. When we run class-struggle campaigns around our demands, we need to do so openly as socialists, popularizing our politics and vision. Previous socialist projects that focused solely on winning our demands, without a more overt political character, eventually ceased to be socialist at all. While some might say identifying as a democratic socialist publicly is just “saying the magic words,” we believe, and evidence shows, it is important. Bernie Sanders publicly proclaiming his socialism in 2016 was a watershed that brought our politics back from the margins and to the masses. We have seen again and again that this stance has grown our politics. In DSA’s strongest chapters, like New York City, it has been a hard requirement that has been crucial to building the power they needed to win citywide. We foreclose our growth as an organization in our own right by giving it up. It’s not something we should give up on easily.
While in the past, we were more willing to compromise on these points, we have developed too much as a chapter, built too much power, and should have too much self-respect to consign ourselves to a position as a permanent junior partner, or an endorsement to be embarrassed by. A proud DSA member now governs the biggest city in the country. We can deliver more canvassers and more know-how than any other organization in the region, probably by orders of magnitude. It is reasonable, and we should feel comfortable, asking for a bit more in return for our labor. We would like to see Zola join the organization (she answered she was not a member on her questionnaire) and make a stronger public commitment to representing our politics, particularly on Palestine and policing. We see this as a strategic race, and we want to support her, but until then, we cannot recommend her endorsement.
IN FAVOR by Gary Z
I am writing IN FAVOR of endorsing Zola’s run for the Montgomery County Council. This election is not some opportunity to boost a vague progressive onto the council - I see this election as a pivotal battle in the tenant war occurring up in Montgomery County that cannot be lost. Through Zola’s record of engagement with our chapter and our campaigns, along with her background in labor organizing, it is clear that she is a socialist. Her victory would not only mortally wound the real estate lobby’s forces, but anchor our chapter into the County’s halls of power.
As tenants rights have been squashed in DC and the rent control movement completely destroyed, I’ve been looking to the successful fight being waged by Montgomery County’s socialists for inspiration and hope. Their fights have been remarkably successful — they won a major victory in expanding rent stabilization three years back and have since been engaged in a war of maneuver to maintain the law and expand coverage to the few jurisdictions within the County that remain exempt from coverage. Winning this electoral fight is vital in preventing a retreat from these prior hard-fought victories. Electoral engagement is crucial at this stage in the tenants’ war.
I understand why some members may be skeptical - her DSA-questionnaire answers on internationalism and policing are weak (although she reiterated her commitment to dropping the MIDC in our Q&A call last month), as is her caginess around the label “democratic socialism.” I get the sense this is the result of nervousness around filling out a questionnaire, rather than subterfuge or positional disagreement. Further, aside from working shoulder-to-shoulder with MOCO comrades in the rent-control fight over the past four years, Zola has been a DSA member since 2024 and knocked doors for DSA-electeds Shayla Adams-Stafford and Frankie Fritz in PG County and Omodamola Williams in Gaithersburg. While I’m not sure we can tap Zola as a “cadre candidate” - she is very clearly part of our movement and worked shoulder to shoulder with our chapter’s Maryland leaders. Through co-struggle, I believe our branch leaders will successfully transform Zola from a fellow-traveller into a true representative of the chapter and our movement.
As a complete aside, I want to mention that I met Zola at a DSA general body meeting up in Rockville earlier this year. The meeting featured a number of tense, dry debates about our chapter’s management and internal voting-policies — the kind movies and novels write left-wing parodies about. I was surprised to see that Zola not only stayed through that whole slog of a meeting, but cheerfully attended the social hour afterwards. We ended up having an extended conversation that evening — about NIH organizing and the rampant development we are seeing in DC. It was clear from our conversation that she is someone who deeply understood the cause of labor, the struggle for dignity of tenants, the terror of ROI-driven hyper-development, and — perhaps most importantly — the art of organizing. If I hadn’t personally met Zola and been so impressed by her intelligence and candor, I would have avoided writing this statement in support.
Per Section 6.4.2 of our bylaws, “Branch Steering Committees shall be permitted to issue a recommendation and rationale on candidates running for seats exclusively within their territorial jurisdiction during endorsement general body meetings. This recommendation and rationale will be included along with ballots sent to members.” The Montgomery County Branch Steering Committee has submitted a recommendation IN FAVOR. The branch’s full writeup and analysis can be found here.
The steering committee would like to underscore the initial points made in the endorsement resolution in support of Zola. The County Council District 3 race is one of the most clear class cleavage elections at play in Montgomery County-- a race that will truly be between the interests of renters and the interests of capital. We view it as a winnable race in a district comprising 2 geographic areas (Rockville and Gaithersburg) where the MoCo branch has spent multiple years building a base and deepening relationships. Zola is a longtime ally and partner of the branch and a founding leader of the wider coalition of renters and workers we have built in the county, beginning with her organizing in the fight for $15, the Montgomery County Racial Equity Network, and the countywide rent stabilization fight in 2023. It was the rent stabilization fight that spurred her to run for Rockville City Council to bring rent stabilization to the city after it was carved out from the county law. With her dedicated work as the first renter elected on the council to bring rent stabilization in the city of Rockville, she has demonstrated not only her effectiveness at governance (and co-governance alongside movement organizations) but also her willingness to take bold, principled stances despite strong and hostile opposition from her colleagues. And through that fight at the Rockville City Council, she joined our ranks as a member in 2024. We have continued to work regularly and closely with her in her capacity as a city councilmember since then and the steering committee members have high levels of trust and confidence in her. Not only that, but she has consistently shown up for our fellow candidates, knocking doors for Shayla Adams Stafford and Frankie Santos Fritz in Prince George’s County, as well as Omodamola Williams in Gaithersburg, and has committed to continuing to support fellow DSA electeds throughout the region.
Meanwhile, her opponent, Jud Ashman, is a real-estate industry backed Republican disguised as an establishment Democrat. has actively fought against priorities of ours like rent stabilization and collective bargaining, and he is focusing his campaign on overturning the 2023 rent stabilization law that we fought so hard to pass. The stakes feel the highest in this race-- rent stabilization is on the ballot–and our involvement feels like it could make the most positive impact. We see the strongest and clearest potential for a winning left-labor coalition to form in support of Zola in this district. Crucially, she has already gotten the Montgomery County Educators Association’ endorsement, one of the most influential endorsement decisions in the county. We believe that our support as DSA knocking doors in some of the most renter-dense areas in her district can and will make a significant impact in the race, as well as contributing funds to go toward things like direct mail to counter likely attacks she will face from her opponents.
IN FAVOR by Mike H
I’m writing in favor of endorsing Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council because she has been a steadfast champion of workers’ and tenants’ rights, and has worked closely with us in the fight to extend rent stabilization to the City of Rockville, because we will need people like her on the County Council to protect countywide rent stabilization over the next four years, and because the Montgomery County Branch has the capacity to make a decisive impact in this race.
First, some context for those unfamiliar: Back in 2022-23, the Montgomery County Branch was instrumental in passing a countywide rent stabilization bill, limiting rent increases to 6% a year. We first met Zola during this fight for countywide rent stabilization, in which she was a tireless advocate. Unfortunately, the bill we passed did not apply in Rockville or Gaithersburg, and so over the past two years we’ve been organizing to get a similar rent stabilization bill passed in Rockville as well.
In 2023, Zola ran for and won a seat on the Rockville City Council, which made her the only renter in that body. As we’ve organizing to pass rent stabilization in Rockville, she has worked with us closely on that effort from her position on the city council. To be clear, when I say that she has worked with us closely, I mean that she often attends working group meetings and helps plan strategy with us, and has knocked doors with us in the campaign to elect Omodamola Williams to the Gaithersburg Council this year. I have every confidence that she will work with DSA as a co-governing partner, because she has already done so for two years now.
We will need people like Zola on the Montgomery County Council, because the landlords and developers are already seeking to undo it. Zola’s opponent is a closet Republican, who is closely aligned with the real estate industry and an outspoken opponent of rent stabilization. We can expect the landlords and developers to pour money into his campaign. If he wins, the landlords and developers will get what they paid for, and he will seek to undermine and roll back rent stabilization in Montgomery County, as they have attempted to roll back TOPA in DC.
But with DSA’s help, Zola has a good chance of victory. There is already a strong left-labor coalition forming around her; she has secured endorsements from CASA, Progressive Maryland, and the MCEA (the Montgomery County teachers’ union, and probably the single most important endorsement in MoCo politics). She secured over 7500 votes to win her seat on the Rockville City Council in 2023. Her win number for the County Council is about 10,000. With the help of the Montgomery County Branch’s organized base of volunteers, we can help achieve that.
The Montgomery County Branch is uniquely well-positioned to make an impact on this race in particular. Zola is running in District 3, which essentially covers Rockville and Gaithersburg. And it just so happens that our branch has seen major growth specifically in Rockville and Gaithersburg over the past few years. In Rockville, our organizing to pass rent stabilization has brought in many new members and leaders. In Gaithersburg, we have made deliberate efforts to recruit new members and build an Upcounty group within the branch, which has also produced many new leaders. Many of these leaders worked on the campaign for Omo Williams this year, over the course of which we knocked approximately 13,000 doors. Now those leaders have a campaign under their belts, and can bring that experience to the City Council race.
In short, we have an enthusiastic base of volunteers in Zola’s district, and we have plenty of electoral experience to draw on. We have the capacity to make a decisive impact in this race. All we need from the chapter is permission to use that capacity. Vote yes on endorsing Izola Shaw, and give us that permission.
IN FAVOR by Brandon W
I am writing in favor of endorsing Izola (Zola) Shaw’s campaign for Montgomery County Council District 3. Zola’s history as a fighter for a $15 minimum wage, the countywide rent stabilization fight, and her co-governance effort with DSA and other movement organizations on the Rockville City Council has been admirable. Per the Montgomery County branch’s endorsement statement, Zola joined as a member in 2024 and has knocked for three of our endorsed candidates in Prince George’s County & Montgomery County, demonstrating her willingness to engage with our chapter. Her Q&A did commit to voting to drop the MIDC, and I believe that we can encourage her to make an even stronger public commitment to representing our key beliefs pre-election and while she is in office on the Socialists in Office Committee.
IN FAVOR by Susan R
I strongly recommend that the MoCo DSA Branch and Chapter endorse Izola Shaw for the Montgomery County City Council in the upcoming election. As a person who has put considerable energy into rent stabilization in MoCo (including addressing the present assault by the County Planning Board and County Council to try to weaken Takoma Parks existing highly progressive rent stabilization), I am very aware of the outstanding battle Izola has waged against the Rockville County Council to further it there. As I understand it, Izola will undergo a 3way race to win a seat on the County Council for district 3, including another female candidate. This will not be easy for her and DSA needs to do all it can to get her on the County Council.
This critical support for Izola is in light of the fact that Friedson is running for County Executive and he and other members on the Council with strong real estate interests, have made it clear that they plan to make a full on attack on the rent stabilization law MoCo DSA worked so hard to get passed a number of years ago. Having Izola on the Council will be an important deterrent regarding such an attack on rent stabilization. Regarding her weak responses on her questionnaire related to Palestine, while disappointing, I feel we can work with her to strengthen her position. And I say that not only as a member of DSA but also of Maryland Neighbors Against Genocide.
IN FAVOR by Dini M
Greetings comrades,
I would like to write in favor of endorsing Izola (Zola) Shaw in her race for Montgomery City Council. I truly believe that Zola will fight for the working class, and supports policies that help all of us and not corporations or other monied interests.
I have been in attendance at Rockville City Council meetings where she went toe-to-toe with other council members in support of the working class, specifically in the case of rent stabilization. She understands that for strong leftist and progressive coalitions to exist, the community members need to have their basic material needs met, like affordable housing.
I have also spoken with her frankly (as her current constituent) regarding Palestine, policing, affordable housing, and workers’ rights. I think that she is someone who will continue to work alongside us in pursuit of a better, socialist future and is willing to be held accountable for her actions and choices. I believe it is up to us as socialists to create as many avenues for progressive change as possible, and one of those ways is to support our comrades who hold local office and continue to advocate for leftist policies for all.
In solidarity,
Dini M.
IN FAVOR by Olivia D
Member statement on the resolution to endorse Zola Shaw- Olivia Delaplaine
I first met Zola on the countywide rent stabilization fight. Through the rallies we organized, Zoom calls we held, testimonies we drafted, and renters’ doors we knocked, we confronted the real estate industry in our county together and passed a historic legislation that protected hundreds of thousands of renters from unpredictable increases. Together, we have continued to confront the real estate industry in Rockville. And our efforts are under attack.
The real estate industry is circling in Montgomery County just as they are in DC, in Prince George’s County, and in Northern Virginia. The same corporate interests that have sought to undo TOPA in DC are seeking to undo rent stabilization in Montgomery County. Just as Janeese Lewis George is throwing her hat in the mayoral race to confront these lobbies, just as Shayla Adams Stafford confronted a real-estate industry backed opponent on the Prince George’s Council, we need Zola on the Council to continue confronting the real estate lobby in Montgomery County. It is our duty to fight and to win by organizing on the same scale, with the same breadth and multi-jurisdictional strategy as our opponents. As our newly-passed chapter program outlines, this is a clear class struggle race, with all of the forces of capital up against all of the forces of labor. And a strong left labor coalition is quickly assembling around Zola-- already clinching the MCEA and Progressive Maryland and CASA endorsements, she is highly favored to get the endorsements of our usual left-labor endorsing partners, with some of the most enthusiasm and energy across the base of support.
We have a strong base of DSA members who are renters in Rockville, and in Gaithersburg, thanks to Zola’s work. We have a powerful tenant movement in Montgomery County because of Zola’s work. She’s already won the votes of 7000 voters in her district and only needs about 10000 to win- we can easily provide that difference as DSA.
I am proud to have knocked doors with Zola both in her Rockville City Council race and county council race. I know she is tested. I know she won’t back down in face of hostility. In fact, as the pressure has mounted and attacks have increased, Zola has only worked more closely with us throughout the years, showing an unwavering commitment to co-governance and sharing her seat with DSA. Union organizing with her UAW colleagues at NIH amid the repression of this second Trump administration is no small feat. She shares our values, shares our priorities, and is not afraid to shy away from a hard fight.
Zola will be a proud DSA candidate–several DSA members are part of her core team and she has already stood proudly beside us in so many of our fights, from county-wide rent stabilization to Rockville rent stabilization, from knocking on doors for Shayla Adams Stafford to supporting both Frankie Santos Fritz and Omodamola Williams. As a co-steward of the branch’s Palestine solidarity work, I have confidence that she will be with us as a vote in support, including dropping the MIDC, a position that she reiterated her commitment to in her Q&A. Zola has consistently said that MoCo DSA is her community and that we are her people. She’s fought with us, danced with us, cried with us, celebrated with us-- it’s hard to describe in words how close the relationship is between her and those of us who have worked with her. She’s active on her dues, she’s one of us, she’s part of our community.
Above all, Zola is an amazing collaborator and organizer with an approach to her work that is grounded in empathy, courage, deep thoughtfulness, and a relentless pursuit of justice. She prepares thoroughly, leaves no phone uncalled, no door un-knocked. She listens to, learns from, and elevates the perspectives of those most impacted by capitalism and imperialism’s horrors. She used her city council seat to get free space and printing for our comrades in the Montgomery County immigrant rights coalition doing vital community defense work. She shows up for eviction defense, she offers casework support to parents she meets out shopping. That is how she has and will continue to govern.
There are MoCo branch members leaders, including me, who are ready and excited to get to work for her. I ask that the chapter allow our branch the autonomy to conduct the strong field operation that we’ve run in the past with the members and leaders we have developed in this district over the past several years and vote yes on endorsing Zola Shaw.
IN FAVOR by Nicole Z
In Support of Zola Shaw –EER09
I’m Nicole Z, I’m a former chair of the Montgomery County branch (2021-2023), former member of the branch steering committee (2021-2024), former Political Engagement Committee member in 2021 and I’m currently the lead for our work on rent stabilization and tenant organizing in Montgomery County and a member of the Stomp Out Slumlords Coordinating Committee. I also was the lead for the MoCo branch’s successful campaign to defeat an austerity ballot measure in 2020, a lead organizer in the campaign to pass rent stabilization in Montgomery County and a lead organizer in our 2022 MoCo electoral working group. In short, I’ve been around and have played a big role in some of our chapter’s biggest successes. I strongly urge chapter members to vote in favor of endorsing Zola Shaw for Montgomery County Council.
About Zola
I first heard of Zola around the time became active in the chapter in 2020 when I heard that she was working on housing justice with the Montgomery Racial Equity Network. She later worked with us during the county rent stabilization campaign. Since our branch got fully involved in the Rockville rent stabilization campaign in spring 2024, we’ve worked extremely closely with her. She’s very hands-on in the Rockville campaign as an elected official and involved in and leading the day-to-day work on contacting tenants and organizing them to come to city hall in support of rent stabilization. She’s knocked doors with us at almost every rent stabilization canvass we’ve done (as well as for knocking doors for DSA-endorsed candidates Frankie Santos Fritz, Shayla Adams Stafford and Omo Williams). She also has sought input from tenant leaders and DSA about updating the city’s landlord-tenant code and what the rent stabilization ordinance should look like. As a result of this, I am confident that we would have a strong co-governing relationship with Zola in the county council.
Zola has also stuck up for us — when her colleagues on the Rockville City Council have come after DSA, she’s gone to bat for us more than she’s needed to and intervened when they wanted to press changes for wheatpasting. She’s also been incredibly strong in her resolve to pass rent stabilization and hasn’t backed down despite relentless attacks from her colleagues, landlords and generally opponents of tenants rights.
Some MoCo context:
The midterm elections are the most consequential elections in MoCo and Maryland. In these elections, the entire Montgomery County Council, the entire Maryland General Assembly and the Governor are elected.
In our Montgomery County branch, we have largely focused on county council issues and not state work – DSA doesn’t have a strong base across all of Maryland, the General Assembly session is only January-April with a key deadline in mid-March and state advocacy involves traveling to Annapolis during the work day. Our successful effort to pass rent stabilization in Montgomery County was a county advocacy effort and we’ve also been working to end county funding for the Maryland-Israel Development Corporation.
Our branch was a leading partner in the successful effort to pass rent stabilization in Montgomery County in 2023, making a concrete and material difference for hundreds of thousands of tenants in Montgomery County (including myself!). This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest victories our chapter has achieved.
In 2022, developers poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a “Progressives for Progress” PAC to fund landlord-friendly candidates for county council. With developers gunning to defeat rent stabilization in 2026, we can safely assume they will do the same this cycle. Rent stabilization is likely to be the #1 issue in the Montgomery County election and is absolutely on the chopping block in the 2026 elections.
Our successful campaign to pass rent stabilization was propelled by the deep relationships we built with CASA and JUFJ in work since at least 2020 and the co-governing relationship we have with Kristin Mink. We wrote the bill and Kristin and Will Jawando introduced it.
The MoCo branch knocked around 13,000 doors for Omo Williams for Gaithersburg City Council this year between August and November. As far as I know the large majority of these doors came from MoCo branch members and MoCo branch members also lead recruitment for canvassing, doing canvass launches and fundraising for Omo. With a longer timeframe for campaigning and more attention on the midterm elections, I feel confident that the MoCo branch can knock 15-20k doors, if not more, if the chapter lets us.
IN FAVOR by Michelle S
My name is Michelle and I’d like to support DSA’s endorsement of Zola Shaw for Montgomery County Council, District 3. I’ve been a part of the Rockville Rent Stabilization campaign for the past year, and I’ve seen how as a Rockville city councilmember, Zola cares about the individual members of the community. Unlike other members of the council, Zola doesn’t kowtow to developers, landlords, and monied interests. She is our strongest advocate for rent stabilization and affordable housing on the city council, and she understands the realities of being a tenant in a broken housing system. Zola takes the time to speak with the people of Rockville individually and shows up as an activist herself. She’s both passionate and dedicated, and I’m confident she will represent us well on the County Council.
IN FAVOR by Jared S
Dear Metro DC DSA Members,
I am writing in support of EER09: Endorsement of Izola Shaw. Zola has a strong background of public service and union organizing, making her one of the more progressive voices currently serving in Rockville’s municipal government.
Right now, she is running for Montgomery County Council District 3, which covers Rockville and Gaithersburg, two cities where Metro DC DSA has a strong, active presence. Zola supports rent stabilization and affordable housing, social and racial justice, and unionizing workplaces throughout the county. While she is not explicitly socialist, her election to the Montgomery County Council would help working class Marylanders and continue building on the momentum of DSA organizing in Montgomery County following the recent elections.
Thank you,
Jared Shapiro
AGAINST by Dami O
I don’t think Izola Shaw represents our current values as DSA. I think she represents what DSA was 3 years ago, but not what we stand for today. Just nearly a year ago we passed a resolution at our local convention to be both anti Zionist in practice and praxis with nearly 94% of our chapter voting in favor.. It’s been 2 years since the onslaught in Gaza began- tens of thousands of children have lost their lives. Izola’s questionnare’s on Gaza and in her QnA about this are very weak for the type of political development we have right now and I don’t think we can blame this on ignorance, it’s a deliberate choice.
I’m not asking for an ultra stance- after all there is not much that can be done for Gaza on county council EXCEPT to not fund the MIDC in the MoCo County budget. Her middling stance on it is disqualifying. It’s not like she is not willing to stand for unpopular policies, she has put her neck out for tenants rights routinely against right wing groups. But her willingness to overlook this significantly places her away from the values that we hold.
A person that will not stand for genocide will not stand for her constituents properly or for DSA VALUES. I encourage people to canvass for her independently of DSA for tenants rights but her values simply don’t match ours. Vote AGAINST.
1 Like
IN FAVOR by Lexie G
Metro DC DSA Chapter Members,
I am writing to express my strong support of Resolution EER09: Endorsement of Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council. In my opinion, the stakes of the race for County Council District 3 are far too high for our chapter to sit out, and we could not ask for a better candidate to work with than Zola.
When I joined the Montgomery County branch in late 2023, I first got involved with the Rockville rent stabilization campaign, which was in its early stages at that point. I met Zola at my first canvass with the Rockville rent stabilization campaign where she joined us to knock renters’ doors to listen to their concerns and spread the word that Rockville is not covered by countywide rent stabilization. Since then, I have seen Zola continue to fight tirelessly for renters in Rockville, even when she faces open hostility from her colleagues for doing so. Based on my observations, I have complete confidence that as a county council member, Zola would continue to govern with the interests of working class community members as her north star. I have also seen Zola actively engage with our branch through regular attendance of our events and meetings and frequent communication with the leadership of our rent stabilization campaign. Zola has been a true partner in our Rockville rent stabilization work, which I don’t think would be possible without her.
I would be super excited to knock doors for Zola regardless of the circumstances of this election, but the dynamics of the race have only intensified my commitment. Zola’s opponent, Jud Ashman, is taking money from real estate industry interests and running a campaign centered on opposition to rent stabilization. The District 3 race has become the focal point of a battle over whether rental housing in Montgomery County will exist primarily to provide community members with a place to live or to extract ever-increasing returns for investors. I can’t think of a more impactful way for our chapter to advance working class interests in Montgomery County than to put our full weight behind Zola in this fight.
Thank you,
Lexie G.
Steering committee member, Rockville rent stabilization campaign member
Montgomery County branch
IN FAVOR by Ralph C
Hello comrades,
I urge you to support Izola Shaw for the Montgomery County Council District 3 race. Izola Shaw is the exact type of candidate that should earn the support of the strong electoral machine the chapter has built out over the years. Izola is a Rockville City Councilmember, being a champion of bringing the countywide rent stabilization policies to the city, and working in conjunction with the MoCo branch, to fight for policies that empowered the working class of Rockville. She’s been a long term movement leader in Montgomery County, organizing for increasing the minimum wage to $15, advocating for survivors and families of domestic violence to have county support services, and being a champion for racial equity awareness in policy making. She actually walked the path of organizing her fellow colleagues at NIH, in the midst of of one of the most anti-labor presidential admins of our life. She has worked hand-in-hand with the moco branch in all of these endeavors, and has come out to knock doors for our candidates throughout the region.
& from the perspective of a Prince Georgian, having a uncompromising champion of our shared values in the next-door county, is vital for this entire region. The threat developers make to each jurisdiction that they will take their ball and go somewhere else, falls empty if every county and municipality has the same strong tenant protections. We have certainly heard these threats in Largo, as I am sure our MoCo comrades have heard in Rockville. These threats are not empty either. Jud Ashman, someone else running in this race, has the backing of the real estate industry and already stated support for pushing back on the current rent stabilization law. The only way we can win is if we present an united stand no matter where we are in the DMV, with proven advocates in each council willing to take bold, principled stances in solidarity of the working class families they serve. I urge you all to vote yes, on Izola Shaw’s endorsement. Thank you.
IN FAVOR by Rohin G
Dear Comrades,
I strongly believe our chapter should endorse Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council.
Izola Shaw has demonstrated a commitment to the hard work of building worker and tenant power as a rank and file union leader who organized her coworkers at NIH and as the only renter on the Rockville City Council, a position she used to advocate for rent stabilization, bringing tenants into the political process and supporting tenant organizing in the City of Rockville. She has directly supported our tenant organizing efforts, speaking at tenants union meetings and knocking on doors.
Izola Shaw represents the way our chapter should be growing and the type of leader we should be elevating, people who come into our work because of their experience of organizing, not necessarily due to their preexisting political commitments.
Additionally, the cogovernance practices she demonstrates in her current position, working very closely with the chapter and our tenant organizing efforts, reflect a serious commitment to DSA and our work, and having this level of coordination with County Councilmember would greatly elevate our effectiveness as we continue to mobilize around key issues in Montgomery County, such as defending and expanding rent stabilization and social housing, and defunding the MDIC. With regards to all of these chapter priorities, I strongly believe a track record of meaningful co-governance more than makes up for current statements, even if they may lack the strength we desire. Montgomery County rent stabilization is one of our chapter’s most significant wins, and it is coming under attack from the real estate industry. We must leave no stone unturned to defend it, and sending a champion to the County Council is critical to that effort.
In Solidarity,
Rohin
IN FAVOR by Sarah B
I enthusiastically support endorsing Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council District 3!
IN FAVOR by Zach BW
Hello comrades,
My name is Zach B.W. I have been a DSA member since 2014. I was on the leadership committees of MDC DSA’s electoral efforts in Montgomery County in 2018 and 2022. I am the founding and current treasurer of the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America Solidarity PAC, the PAC we use in support of our endorsed candidates in Maryland. I write today to urge you to endorse Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council. Izola Shaw is a current Rockville City Council Member, and I believe that her time in office has proven she would be a wonderful candidate for us to endorse.
SUMMARY
Council Member Shaw is a principled leader who has moved further left over the course of her tenure in office in spite of the political costs. She has made expanding and protecting rent stabilization the key to her political career at a time when developers are coming to dismantle it in our County. She has built a grassroots network of tenant associations and makes herself accountable to them. She has DSA cadre leaders in her “kitchen cabinet,” and she has stood up against her colleagues on principle. Her main opponent represents a danger to a rent stabilization in Montgomery County and refuses to accept that changes in police procedure could have saved Marvin Salamanca Garcia’s life. The district is a swing district that may decide the face of rent stabilization in MoCo. Most MoCo DSA members support endorsing her, and we have the opportunity to make a meaningful and effective intervention without diluting our efforts in other jurisdictions.
Please vote to endorse Izola Shaw.
MORE DETAIL:
CHARACTER AND VALUES
Unlike the vast majority of office-holders, Council Member Shaw has moved TO THE LEFT since taking office; most office-holders end up moving to the right. This has cost her politically, but she has stood by her principles. Last year, she introduced a resolution to bring rent stabilization to the City of Rockville (the City being exempt from Montgomery County’s rent stabilization law); the resolution was voted down by the City Council, and several pro-capitalist class Council Members became antagonistic towards Council Member Shaw. This did not deter her; she introduced yet another resolution this year. Again, the resolution was voted down – and the rest of the City Council (except one) then voted to ban all discussion of rent stabilization or rent control on City Council agendas.
Council Member Shaw was undeterred. Even given the political costs of continuing to support rent stabilization, she has not backed down.
She responded exactly as we in DSA would like for our endorsed elected officials to respond: she went directly to the people. She worked with renters to help organize tenant associations in every major apartment building in the City of Rockville. She and these tenant associations have been working steadily to bring outside pressure on the City Council, organizing scores of renters and allies to testify again and again at City Council hearings. The popular pressure became so intense that at least one City Council Member attempted to introduce a resolution banning the public from holding signs, clapping, or booing at City Council hearings. She has truly practiced democracy as we would want an elected official to do so.
In her campaign for County Council, Council Member Shaw has also made three DSA cadre leaders part of her kitchen cabinet.
Council Member Shaw has made a real difference and demonstrated remarkable leadership and integrity.
THE OPPOSITION - ANTI-RENTER, PRO-COP EVEN WHEN SOMEONE DIES
To be clear, the same forces opposing Council Member Shaw are mobilizing on the County level. They are coming for Montgomery County’s rent stabilization law. County Council District 3, containing the Cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg, is a KEY swing district. Council Member Shaw’s main opponent in the Democratic primary will be Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman, a former Republican who has made opposition to rent stabilization a key component of his campaign and his brand. This summer, 24 hours after ICE abducted a Gaithersburg resident from Amber Commons, Mayor Ashman decided the appropriate way to respond was to post a statement on social media about why he opposes rent stabilization – it being an open secret that he was planning to run for County Council even as he was running for re-election as Mayor. Mayor Ashman literally prioritized developer donations over the safety of his constituents from federal fascists.
In addition, Mayor Ashman’s response to the death of a Gaithersburg resident in City Police custody was unacceptable. Marvin Salamanca Garcia died in police custody on Christmas Eve 2024; Salamanca Garcia was experiencing a medical emergency, and police officers responded by forcing him to the ground and restraining him. The autopsy subsequently indicated he died as a result of “complications of cocaine and cocaethylene intoxication, sharp force injuries [not caused by police], cardiovascular disease, and prone restraint.” Per the Maryland Attorney General’s office, “The [autopsy] report further indicates that Mr. Salamanca Garcia’s prior heart disease increased the risk of cardiac arrest, which was exacerbated by alcohol, cocaine, substantial blood loss, and the stress caused by prone restraint. The manner of death was ruled ‘Homicide’.”
Though the Attorney General’s investigation found that no crimes were committed, Mayor Ashman has been consistently dismissive of the possibility that procedures should be changed to avoid another such death. His attitude has been that if no crime was committed, nothing needs to change.
We cannot allow Jud Ashman to win the County Council seat.
HOW TO DO IT
Our efforts in support of Omodamola Williams in Gaithersburg have created a large network of Gaithersburg-area volunteers. Council Member Shaw herself received more votes for City Council than Mayor Ashman has ever received in any one of his elections, and she has only grown her network in Rockville. Montgomery County DSA leaders can activate these networks and recruit volunteers from Montgomery County residents.
We can knock for combinations of Josie Caballero plus Izola Shaw one day, and Gabriel Acevero plus Josie Caballero another day. In the narrow area where Council Member Shaw and Delegate Acevero’s districts overlap, we can even knock for a combination of all three.
We can make a meaningful intervention in this race without diluting our efforts to elect candidates in the District of Columbia or other jurisdictions. The Maryland primary election is one week after the District of Columbia primary – we do not need to call in D.C. residents until our Get Out the Vote weekend, after our comrades have secured victory for Janeese Lewis George and Aparna Raj. But when our D.C. comrades come out for that final weekend, they can push us over the edge to victory!
WILL OUR ENDORSEMENT MATTER?
Yes. Council Member Shaw has recently received the endorsement of the Montgomery County Education Association - the Apple Ballot. This is one of the most important endorsements a progressive can receive in Montgomery County and demonstrates her ability to put together a left-labor coalition. A DSA endorsement now will drive momentum for Council Member Shaw and put pressure on other progressive organizations to endorse her.
Mayor Ashman has a base of support in Gaithersburg, but he is almost unknown in Rockville. The structural forces that benefited him in a Gaithersburg City election – the difficulty of voting by mail, the presence of only one polling site, having only one day of early voting, and an absentee media ignoring a municipal election – will not be present in the Maryland primary. Working-class voters will have an easier time hearing about the election, an easier time learning about the stakes, and an easier time voting. Remember: Council Member Shaw received more votes when she ran for City Council than Mayor Ashman has ever received in any of his elections.
Our volunteer efforts will be meaningful and effective. In Gaithersburg, DSA made over 12,000 knocks for Omodamola Williams in less than hour months’ time. If we begin in January, that will give us almost two and a half more months to knock, using networks of volunteers we have already built up. We should be able to reach something in the area of 20,000 knocks before Get Out the Vote weekend. Our intervention can make a meaningful contribution to the election.
Please vote to endorse Izola Shaw for Montgomery County Council.
IN FAVOR by Ahmed M
Comrades,
I am writing to support Izola “Zola” Shaw for Montgomery County District 3 because I’ve worked with her directly, especially on rent stabilization efforts in Rockville, and I’ve been genuinely impressed. I not only like her personally, but I also believe in what she stands for, and as a resident of District 3, I plan to knock on doors for her.
Zola consistently shows, both publicly and personally, that she is dedicated and capable of working with DSA and learning from our organizing efforts. She shows up in the community, listens, and takes our concerns seriously. That’s important, especially in a district where our values and policies are at stake.
The challenger in this race, Judd Ashman, has a long history of aligning with real estate and corporate landlord interests. He has opposed the tenant protections and rent stabilization measures we support, including mocking stabilization efforts in MoCo and opposing similar policies in Gaithersburg. If elected, it’s reasonable to believe he would carry those positions to the County Council, and collaboration with him on key issues would likely be impossible.
Rosa Luxemburg wrote, “Those who do not move do not notice their chains.” To me, this captures exactly why Zola’s candidacy matters: she is willing to move, to challenge entrenched interests, and to fight alongside tenants and working people. She understands that rent stabilization, tenant protections, and genuine community power all require confronting systems that would prefer we stay still.
District 3 has the potential to be the deciding seat in the fight for rent stabilization and broader tenant protections. Let’s be clear: if Judd Ashman wins, undoing stabilization will be at the top of his agenda. The stakes are incredibly high.
Zola’s approach and communication might differ from those of others in the movement, but her core values align with ours. She is committed to learning alongside us, and her vote on the Council would help push forward our work, not only on housing justice but also on issues like Palestine and other vital parts of our platform.
Given her proven commitment, willingness to collaborate, and the very harmful stance of her opponent, I firmly believe that DSA should endorse Izola Shaw and support her campaign. Genuinely, I think Zola will be there for us, and this is the moment when our support can make a real difference.
In solidarity,
Ahmed M.