Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman, who is a member of the Board of Directors at Montgomery Community Media, was sworn-in Monday night along with City Councilmembers Lisa Henderson and Jim McNulty.
All three were re-elected this month in the 2025 Gaithersburg City Election. The official election results can be found here.
Ashman’s Inaugural Comments
“I’ve been through the great recession here, multiple government shutdowns, and the pandemic, but through it all Gaithersburg has been constant — the greatest of places to be,” Ashman said, speaking to the audience of about 40 people during the council special session. But he noted that “the coarseness and toxicity of national politics has unfortunately seeped into our city in some ways.”
“This is my seventh election in the City of Gaithersburg,” Ashman, who was a Gaithersburg councilmember before becoming mayor in 2014, told MCM. “I’ve been so fortunate to get the support of our fellow residents to serve them in so many different ways and I’m grateful for it every day.”
“We’re in choppy waters,” Ashman said regarding impacts coming from the federal administration. He thinks the city needs to work on housing growth and economic development — “With the loss of federal jobs, we certainly need more private sector jobs to absorb the people who are out of work at the federal level.”
Councilmember Henderson Speaks
Henderson noted the city provided emergency grants to help with the lapse in SNAP benefits. She said affordable housing is always at the top of her mind.
“And we’re going to continue to build new and more smart housing to battle that crisis,” Henderson told MCM. Building programs to support senior residents is another priority.
Councilmember McNulty Remarks
McNulty, who has several family members who work for the federal government, said, “We want people, if they can’t find another opportunity, to be able to create one here in Gaithersburg so that we’re not losing all these great people.”
Pedestrian safety is also a focus point. The city is currently in the beginning phases of its “Move Safe” road safety action plan.
“In our next work session we’re going to be hearing something back about that so then we can start figuring out what our plan is going to be for the next fiscal year,” McNulty told MCM.
