A labor-funded Super PAC has spent more than $56,000 on ads attacking Montgomery County school board candidate Brenda Diaz. Diaz, a former MCPS teacher, is running for the open at-large seat on the Tuesday, Nov. 3 ballot.

Strong Maryland, which formed on April 22, has received $65,000 in contributions: $40,000 from the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) on May 26 and $25,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on June 2, Montgomery Perspective first reported on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The PAC spent $18,125 during the primary in an unsuccessful effort to keep Diaz off the general election ballot. It then reported spending $38,000 on online ads opposing her on Sept. 21, bringing total spending against Diaz to $56,125, according to independent expenditure filings cited by Montgomery Perspective columnist Adam Pagnucco.

The ads call Diaz a Republican and MAGA-aligned candidate and accuse her of pushing a divisive agenda in county schools. The PAC's website describes Diaz as a favorite of the Montgomery County Republican Party. Diaz does appear on a list of candidates the party supports.

MSEA is separately running online ads backing Diaz's opponent, Omar Lazo, a small business owner who serves on the Montgomery College Board of Trustees. Lazo holds the teachers union's Apple Ballot endorsement.

The race

The at-large seat opened when Karla Silvestre left to run for County Council. In the June 23 primary, Lazo won about 33% of the vote to Diaz's 30.8%, with 257 of 257 precincts reporting.

Diaz resigned from MCPS in 2022 after violating the district's mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is her second school board bid. She lost the District 2 general election in 2024.

In a June profile by The Baltimore Banner, Diaz said: "It definitely was not easy for me to go against the mask mandate. I was attacked pretty heavily from multiple fronts."

At an Oct. 5 candidate forum at Lakewood Elementary School in Rockville, both candidates called for pausing the Wootton High School relocation while a court case is pending. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 8 through Dec. 10. Diaz said her top budget priority would be tying every dollar to measurable outcomes in reading, writing and math.

Money gap

Pre-primary campaign finance reports showed Lazo with nearly $10,000 cash on hand, including $3,000 from David Trone. Diaz had about $2,000. Those figures predate the general election and may have changed.

Nearly 60% of Montgomery County voters are registered Democrats, according to Montgomery Perspective. The Montgomery County Democratic Party has taken the unusual step of publicly condemning Diaz, a move the party typically avoids in nonpartisan school board races.

No public response from Diaz or Lazo regarding the PAC spending was found in available reporting as of Wednesday, Oct. 7.