Will Jawando

William Opeyemi Jawando (born January 2, 1983) is an American politician and author who has served as an at-large member of the Montgomery County Council since 2018.

Background
Jawando was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, on January 2, 1983. He is biracial, with a white mother from Kansas, Kathleen Gross, and a Nigerian father, Olayinka Jawando, who divorced when Jawando was six years old. He attended the Catholic University of America, where he earned a B.A. degree in sociology in 2004 and a J.D. degree in 2007.

In May 2022, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published Jawando's autobiography, My Seven Black Fathers. The book follows his early life and career, with each of the book's chapters describing each of his "fathers".

Political career
Jawando first got involved in politics as a student at Catholic University, where he made efforts to establish a campus NAACP chapter, which was resisted by the school over the organization's stance on abortion. After national pressure, including from then-President and CEO of the NAACP Kweisi Mfume, the university ultimately backtracked and allowed the chapter's formation. He later worked as an intern for then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama, and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown until 2009. Afterwards, he worked in the United States Department of Education and the Office of Public Engagement until 2012.

2014 Maryland House of Delegates campaign
In 2014, Jawando ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 20, seeking to succeed Heather Mizeur, who unsuccessfully ran for governor. During the Democratic primary, he received endorsements from several local labor unions, CASA de Maryland, and NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland. Jawando lost the Democratic primary on June 25, 2014, placing fourth with 15.1 percent of the vote, a margin of 400 votes out of 37,264 votes cast. Following his defeat, he joined Governor Martin O'Malley's political action committee, O' Say Can You See PAC, as a senior adviser.

2016 U.S. House of Representatives campaign


In April 2015, Jawando announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Maryland's 8th congressional district, seeking to succeed Chris Van Hollen, who ran for U.S. Senate. During the primary, he received endorsements from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus, including U.S. Representatives John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, former U.S. education secretary Arne Duncan, and former United States Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson. He also ran on a platform of increasing the minimum wage, protecting abortion rights, paid sick and family leave, campaign finance reform, and police accountability.

In December 2015, The Washington Post reported that Jawando's campaign accepted donations from Martin Shkreli, who Jawando said he was introduced to by a friend in New York's financial sector. He promised to give away Shkreli's contributions to charity, however, campaign finance records show that Jawando's campaign had kept $22,900 in contributions from six other Turing Pharmaceuticals employees.

Jawando was defeated in the Democratic primary by state senator Jamie Raskin on April 27, 2016, placing fifth with 4.6 percent of the vote.

Montgomery County Council
In September 2017, Jawando announced his candidacy for the Montgomery County Council at-large. During his campaign, he utilized the county's public financing program. Jawando won the 34-way Democratic primary and later the general election, and was sworn in on December 3, 2018, becoming the second Black lawmaker elected countywide in Montgomery County. He was subsequently re-elected in 2022.

In November 2022, Jawando joined the transition team of Governor-elect Wes Moore.

In December 2023, Jawando started his own political action committee, Will of the People PAC, to support progressive candidates.

2024 U.S. Senate campaign
On May 2, 2023, Jawando announced that he would run for United States Senate in 2024, seeking to succeed incumbent U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, who had announced the day before that he would not run for re-election in 2024. During the Democratic primary, he sought to position himself as a progressive, citing his record on the Montgomery County Council, and ran on a platform including Medicare for All, a federal universal basic income program, and universal preschool. He was viewed by the media as a long-shot candidate behind frontrunners Angela Alsobrooks and David Trone.

Jawando dropped out of the race on October 20, 2023, and endorsed Alsobrooks a few days later.

Political positions
Jawando has been described by media outlets as a progressive, including by himself.

COVID-19 pandemic
In April 2020, Jawando introduced the COVID-19 Renter Relief Act, a bill that prohibits landlords from increasing rent during and within 30 days after a public health emergency. He later partnered with local businessman David Blair to establish the Montgomery County Food Security fund to support those struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2021, Jawando co-signed a letter written by the Montgomery County Council to Governor Larry Hogan criticizing his administration's vaccine rollout, which they charged as disproportionally impacting people of color and low-wage residents of the state. In September 2021, he said he supported a proposal by Elrich to instate a vaccine mandate for county workers.

In October 2021, Jawando joined CASA de Maryland advocates at a protest at the Maryland State House, where he called on Hogan to reinstate eviction protections and on legislative leaders to form a special session to pass tenant protections bills. In August 2022, he supported a proposal by County Executive Marc Elrich to extend the COVID-19 Renter Relief Act by an additional six months and to limit rent increases at 4.4%.

Crime and policing
During the George Floyd protests, Jawando expressed support for the defund the police movement, but ultimately clarified and said he does not support defunding the police. He supported several bills as county councilmember to increase police oversight and reduce police brutality.

In January 2019, Jawando introduced the Law Enforcement Trust and Transparency Act, a bill that would require the State Prosecutor's Office or the United States Department of Justice to investigate officer-involved deaths. The bill passed and went into effect in 2020. In December 2021, he criticized a proposal by County Executive Marc Elrich to establish a police accountability board, saying it "falls short as introduced and the kind of public buy-in that's needed".

In May 2019, after released police body-camera footage showed a white officer using the N-word, Jawando called on Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Marcus Jones to open an investigation into the incident. In June 2019, he introduced a bill to establish a Policing Advisory Commission to involve citizens in the county police department policy formulation.

In July 2020, Jawando introduced a bill to limit a police officer's use-of-force, which included restrictions on no-knock warrants and a ban on neck restraints. The bill was unanimously passed by the Montgomery County Council.

In July 2020, Jawando voted to reassign 12 of the 23 active school resource officers (SROs) in Montgomery County Public Schools. In November 2020, Jawando introduced a bill to remove SROs from Montgomery County Public Schools, instead redirecting the money toward mental health programs and restorative justice programs in the county. During the 2021 legislative session, he supported a state bill to replace SROs with counselors. In April 2021, Jawando and the Montgomery County Public Schools system launched the Student Wellbeing Action Group (SWAG), a workgroup to determine what supports students needed without SROs present.

In May 2021, Jawando introduced a bill that would require police officers to complete a 30-hour training course on racial equity and conflict resolution. The bill passed and was signed into law by Elrich in November 2022.

Fiscal issues
In October 2021, Jawando led efforts to launch a Guaranteed Income Pilot Program in Montgomery County, which would give $800 per month to 300 targeted families for two years.

In September 2023, Jawando introduced a bill to incrementally phase out the county's tipped wage, which he called a "legacy of slavery", by 2028. He withdrew the bill in January 2024, saying that he would instead push for a similar statewide bill.

Housing
In October 2020, Jawando voted against a bill to give tax breaks to high-rise developers near Washington Metro stations. He later voted to sustain County Executive Marc Elrich's veto of the bill in December 2020. In February 2021, Jawando introduced bills to allow multi-family housing to be built near Metro stations, and another to limit rent increases to once a year.

During the 2022 legislative session, Jawando testified in support of a bill that would require landlords to have a "just cause" for choosing not to renew a tenant's lease.

In July 2022, Jawando introduced a bill that would establish an all-electric building standard in construction by 2024.

In July 2023, Jawando introduced a bill to cap annual rent increases in Montgomery County at six percent. The bill passed and was signed into law by County Executive Marc Elrich.

National politics
In December 2019, Jawando participated in and spoke at a rally in Olney, Maryland to support of the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

Social issues
In October 2019, Jawando introduced the CROWN Act, a bill that would ban discrimination based on natural hairstyles. The bill passed and became law, making Montgomery County the first county in the United States to ban hairstyle discrimination.

In May 2022, following the leak of a draft opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Jawando predicted that Maryland would become "an important part of the nationwide care collection".

In September 2023, Jawando voted for a bill to ban the sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers.

Taxes
In May 2019, Jawando said he supported expanding the county's property tax credit for owner-occupied residences.

During the 2020 legislative session, Jawando testified in support of a bill that would allow counties to implement a progressive income tax. He also proposed a bill to suspend the county's carryout bag tax during the COVID-19 pandemic; the bill was withdrawn in April 2020, after he spoke with representatives from local labor unions and environmental groups.

In June 2020, Jawando introduced a resolution to declare racism a public health crisis. The Montgomery County Council unanimously voted for the resolution.

In April 2023, Jawando introduced a bill to increase the county recordation tax by over a dollar for each $500 of the sales price.

Transportation
Jawando opposed Governor Larry Hogan's plan to widen Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway, saying in December 2019 that the plans would "do nothing to reduce miles travelled or tailpipe emissions" and that its express toll lanes would "only be available to the wealthiest residents".

Personal life
Jawando met his future wife, Michele Lawrence, in 2004 at the Chi-Cha Lounge in Washington, D.C. They were engaged nine months later. As of January 2023, Michele is senior vice president for programs of the Omidyar Network. Together, they have four children and live in Sandy Spring, Maryland.

Outside of politics, Jawando is a choir singer at the Reid Temple A.M.E. Church in Silver Spring.

In November 2021, Jawando missed a court hearing he had requested to contest two traffic citations. Jawando's chief of staff stated that he paid the fines before his license was to be suspended in response to the absence.