By CAPA JRC reporters Claire Yu and Eileen Luo
On March 24, 2021, David Blair announced his campaign for Montgomery County Executive. In February of this year, with primary elections just three months away, CAPA junior reporters interviewed him via email about his second bid to become the Montgomery County Executive.
About David Blair
In 2018, Blair lost the primary election to current Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich by roughly 70 votes. This year, he is running on a platform that aims to improve a “slipping [County]” primarily through education.
“Our schools used to be the best in the country and are now not even the best in the State,” he wrote. “It’s becoming increasingly expensive to live here and the pandemic has exacerbated many of the inequalities that existed before.”
As County Executive, he will prioritize “[r]eturning our education system to the best in the country… through [education] and job training.” He plans on offering universal Pre-K as a part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a new law for education funding in Maryland.
Blair speaking to the Asian community at a recent Meet and Greet (David Blair).
BuyMoCo
The pandemic has hit many small businesses especially hard, which is why BuyMoCo and economic development is a main priority for Blair’s campaign. The BuyMoCo online shop can be accessed at this link.
BuyMoco is an initiative that entails “creating an app and marketing campaign to promote local businesses”. Under this plan, the Montgomery County government would buy more services and goods it needs from local businesses. “It will be effective because it will help local employers expand the number of people they can hire, leading to more opportunities for good-paying careers in the community,” Blair wrote.
Through BuyMoCo, he hopes to “harness the entrepreneurial spirit of [Montgomery County] residents by providing them the resources they need to start their businesses and grow their businesses” and prompt the Montgomery County government and residents to buy local more often.
“Montgomery County cannot succeed unless our businesses succeed. We must do more to support local Montgomery County businesses so more money goes into our economy and helps build our tax base,” he wrote. “The more businesses we can grow…the more tax revenue we will have to use to address critical needs in our community.”
Addressing Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blair aims to address not only the struggles of small businesses, but also the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes. “We will put in place a zero tolerance policy for hate crimes against Asian-Americans,” he wrote. “I will work diligently with Asian-American community leaders and law enforcement to ensure we’re adequately protecting religious and cultural institutions that may be targeted or have been targeted before.”
Other Goals
On his official website, it is noted that Blair’s platform also stresses fighting climate change, empowering nonprofits, and investing in the community through methods such as increasing affordable housing.
Learn More About David Blair
For those who have more questions or are interested in getting more information about Blair’s campaign, please visit his official website at blairformontgomery.com, or feel free to send an email to info@blairformontgomery.com.
“We’ve built an incredibly diverse and talented campaign team that has been hard-at-work with community leaders and residents to get the word out about how we can do better with the engaged, collaborative, and effective leadership I will bring as County Executive,” Blair wrote. “We have the talent and know-how in Montgomery County to be a leader. We can do better! We need the right leadership to make it happen.”
This article was provided by Chinese American Parents Association Junior Reporter Club (CAPA JRC) with members who interviewed, audio recorded, wrote, translated, and video recorded. CAPA JRC has 25 Montgomery County middle to high school students. They have created a bilingual platform delivering news and serving the community.
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