Ashton, Feinberg, Myles and Pierzchala Elected to Council Seats
Rockville voters re-elected Bridget Donnell Newton as mayor, with 7,561 votes, or 63.75% of the total, according to unofficial results in the City of Rockville’s historic Vote by Mail election, which were announced early Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Four councilmembers were also elected: Monique Ashton, Beryl L. Feinberg, David Myles and Mark Pierzchala.
The Mayor and Council serve four-year terms.
Newton, a 38-year resident of Rockville, will return to the mayor’s seat for a third term. She also served two terms as a councilmember. Mayoral challenger Virginia D. Onley received 4,230 votes, or 35.66%. There were 70 write-in votes for mayor.
The top four vote-getters for council seats were:
- Monique Ashton, with 5,665 votes (12.58%).
- Beryl L. Feinberg, with 5,648 votes (12.54%).
- David Myles, with 5,148 votes (11.43%).
- Mark Pierzchala, with 4,800 votes (10.66%).
Feinberg was elected to her third term. Pierzchala was elected to a second consecutive term and fourth term overall. He previously served two two-year terms from 2009-2013.
Nine other candidates running for council received the following votes:
- Kuan Lee, with 4,639 votes (10.30%).
- Suzan Pitman, with 4,239 votes (9.41%).
- Cynthia Cotte Griffiths, with 3,876 votes (8.61%).
- James Hedrick, with 3,442 votes (7.64%).
- Brigitta Mullican, with 3,258 votes (7.23%).
- Richard Gottfried, with 1,401 votes (3.11%).
- Charles Littlefield, with 1,233 votes (2.74%).
- Matthew Perkins, with 1,040 votes (2.31%).
- Donald A. Masters, with 508 votes (1.13%).
There were 137 write-in votes for councilmembers.
Results, which are posted at www.rockvillemd.gov/electionresults, are unofficial until certified. Results will be certified and announced Tuesday, Nov. 12. Provisional ballots may change the vote totals.
This is the 66th election in the history of the City of Rockville and the first Vote by Mail election in Maryland history.
A total of 12,213 ballots were cast in this election, versus 6,468 cast in 2015. The number of votes cast increased by 88.82% between 2015 and 2019.
An inauguration ceremony for the new Mayor and Council will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17 at F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, 603 Edmonston Drive. The inauguration is free and open to the public.
The first meeting of the new Mayor and Council is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18 at City Hall, 111 Maryland Ave.
In April 2018, the Mayor and Council voted unanimously to follow the Board of Supervisors of Elections’ recommendation to implement Vote by Mail for the fall 2019 election. Encouraging more people to vote in city elections has been a priority for the Mayor and Council.