Since losing her federal job at the National Institutes of Health, Sonia Garcia has been working at her father’s small business while helping neighbors navigate the University Boulevard Corridor and Bus Rapid Transit transition.
While speaking with residents along Veirs Mill Road who have received property acquisition letters in connection with the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, Garcia realized how many were unaware that they would lose some of their backyard property. She also said that, while much of the county’s transition information was shared in Spanish, not all of the details were translated.
Montgomery County Department of Transportation is expanding the Flash BRT along Veirs Mill Road to connect Wheaton and Rockville.
Garcia also has similar concerns about the University Boulevard Corridor plan.
“I am all for pedestrian safety and for the buses,” she said. But she also said she wants residents need to be more involved.
“A lot of these folks were finally heard,” Garcia said, referring to recent public hearings held by the council. But, she stressed, that was late in the process.
Many residents are now reacting to council decisions rather than participating in the decision-making process, she said.
“I started translating for them,” Garcia said. “That’s one of the many reasons I ran.”
Garcia added that she believes many of the residents with whom she works have a general fear of government. She said transparency from the beginning of a project is needed and also said that is what she is committed to doing if elected to the District 6 seat currently held by County County President Natali Fani-González, she said.
Both candidates are running in the Democratic primary. Louella Tham, who is running on the Republican ticket, did not respond to a request for an interview.
Fani-González was first elected to council in 2022 and served on the county Planning Board for seven years.
When the University Boulevard Corridor Plan was approved in December of 2025, Fani-González said, “I am so proud of this sector plan.”
At the time, she said it would increase housing density and protect pedestrians and cyclists along “one of the most dangerous places in the state of Maryland.”
If elected, Garcia, a scientist, said she would always make data-informed decisions. She said she wants to make “systems work better for the people.”
“I believe leadership should not happen behind closed doors,” Garcia said.
Garcia, the oldest of eight children, is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County. She attended Montgomery County Public Schools, graduating from both Wheaton High School and Thomas Edison High School of Technology.
The 34-year-old earned a Ph.D. in molecular medicine with a concentration in cancer biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her parents are Salvadoran immigrants.
Garcia has never held elected office. She has held multiple student offices while in college and through her advanced degree programs. She is also a community organizer.
When asked what she favors concerning the fiscal 2027 operating budget, Garcia said she would not support raising property taxes. Nor would she favor eliminating the $692 homeowners tax credit.
But she noted that because the county is losing “a huge chunk of revenue” from decreased income tax dollars due to the vast number of people who have lost jobs in the past year. Therefore, Garcia said, she would closely study expenditures, including the school budget, to see where cuts could be made.
She also said she supported the council’s recent efforts to curb U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s reach into the county.
Prior to her candidacy, Garcia worked as a contractor at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and then became a federal employee, working as a program analyst at the National Cancer Institute within the NIH. Along with many others, she was one of the probationary federal employees terminated in February 2025 during widespread federal workforce cuts.
