The Rising Voice of the African and African American Community in Gaithersburg And Why Jud Ashman’s Run for MoCo Council District 3 Matters for Us

Gaithersburg isn’t just growing. It’s transforming. Every year, more African and African American families choose this city because it feels like a place where identity, ambition, and community can breathe. You see it in the restaurants, the churches, the barbershops, the Little Leagues, the schools, and even in the cultural styles you catch walking through Rio or Crown. We’re no longer a small demographic tucked quietly into the suburbs, we’re a vibrant force reshaping the story of the city.

And as the community keeps expanding, political representation matters more than ever. Not symbolic representation real power that translates into real outcomes. Affordable housing that doesn’t crush our families. Safe neighborhoods that respect us. Economic opportunities that include us. Schools where our kids thrive and aren’t treated like footnotes. Government that actually knows our faces.

This is where Jud Ashman stepping into the Montgomery County Council District 3 race becomes important. Very important.

I have walk with Jud in my neighborhood when we had some issue of with the crown high school construction site light. He was very attentive to the details. I can assert that he is trustworthy; Leadership is not just policy paperwork and campaign signs. It’s relationships. It’s being able to look a representative in the eye and say, “Brother, this is what our community needs,” and know the person actually hears you.

Jud has been mayor in a city where the African and African American population has been exploding faster than most people outside Gaithersburg realize. And he didn’t shy away from it. He embraced it. You see it in the festivals he supports, the cultural programs the city invests in, the attitude of inclusion he pushes. The man understands the multicultural DNA of Gaithersburg because he’s been shaping policy around it for years.

Now imagine that understanding scaled up at the county level.

District 3 includes neighborhoods with large African and African American communities, working-class families, immigrant households, and new professionals who want better roads, safer streets, fair opportunities, and a political voice that actually reflects our lived reality. If someone who genuinely understands Gaithersburg’s diversity wins that seat, it changes the power dynamic.

For us, that means:

    •    Policies shaped with African and immigrant families in mind.

    •    Better support for small businesses including African-owned ones to get real visibility and funding.

    •    Continuous push to keep housing attainable as the region becomes more expensive.

    •    A broader cultural footprint in county decisions, not just city events.

    •    And yes a voice inside the council who personally knows members of our community, including me.

Representation hits differently when it’s someone who knows your story, your kids, your journey in this city. When a policymaker understands what it means to arrive in America, work hard, build a life, and still carry the rhythm of a homeland in your chest you get better decisions.

Gaithersburg is becoming a capital of African excellence in Montgomery County. Let’s not pretend otherwise. And if Jud steps from City Hall into the County Council with our support behind him, the benefits for our community won’t be theoretical. They will be immediate, practical, and generational.

This moment matters. Because our community is no longer on the outside looking in we’re here, we’re growing, and our voice deserves amplification.

If District 3 gets a leader who already understands us, the future gets a little brighter.

And Gaithersburg keeps becoming exactly what we always believed it could be.