Julie Yang Wants the Math to Work
Comms Take: Framing a message to jump from school board to County Council
I had lunch today with Montgomery County Board of Education President Julie Yang, now running for the District 1 County Council seat. She’s engaged, pro-business, and well informed. She also carries a compelling personal story — from growing up in a shed in Wuhan with no plumbing to building a career and raising a family here.
Our conversation covered a lot of territory: schools, business development, accountability, affordable teacher housing, equity, and immigrant engagement.
One statistic she mentioned intrigued me: More than a third of the county’s immigrant community isn’t registered with any political party. That means they have no voice in primaries. It also leaves them “un-messaged” — without power at the primary ballot box, they don’t get the attention party voters do.
Later in our discussion, Julie expanded on why she wants to serve on the Council. One line stood out to me:
“Part of the reason I want to run for County Council is because our math doesn’t work. The numbers they’re using don’t add up.”
From a communications perspective, that’s the kind of line that sticks. It’s simple, adaptable, and offers her a through-line she can return to whether she’s talking budgets, housing, or schools.
Jumping from the Board of Education into a Council campaign puts Julie in an interesting position — as stories about MCPS hit the news, her own fortunes will rise or fall with the tide.
I’ll be curious to track how Julie and her opponents shape their messages in the coming months. Montgomery County leaders are seldom silent, so we’ll be hearing more.