Michelle García will likely be the next Prince George’s County District 1 council member after winning the Democratic primary with more than 67% of the vote. She defeated a three-person field that included former Laurel City Council member Martin Mitchell and Darwin Romero, a construction manager.
García’s victory makes her the sole incoming Prince George’s County Council member to participate in the county’s new Fair Election Fund. The public campaign financing program, which officially rolled out for the 2026 election cycle, matches small donations from Prince Georgians, aiming to curb the influence of deep-pocketed corporate donors and developers.
To qualify, García had to collect at least 150 individual contributions of $250 or less, totaling a minimum of $7,500. Those donations are then matched with public funds based on a tiered system.
It was a grind, García said. The mother and new grandmother joked she would rather give birth again than go through public financing a second time.
According to campaign finance reports, García’s campaign raised around $41,000 from individual contributors and received $75,000 in public funding, the max allowed under the Fair Election Fund rules.
“I made a decision that I was going to be publicly financed,” García said. “Even though I knew that with my contacts and my history I certainly could get financial support, I felt that it was very important to show people that public financing works. … Not accepting money from any corporations or developers makes me unique. It makes me accountable to the community, and no one else.”
Printing accounted for the bulk of her expenses, according to campaign finance reports, totaling more than $20,900. Her largest vendor was Beltsville-based House of Print and Thread LLC, where she spent $13,798.68 across multiple transactions. She also paid The Strategy Group in Chicago $4,523.58 for printing and spent $2,979 to advertise with Streetcar Suburbs Publishing in Hyattsville.
Before politics
Before entering the political arena, García worked on the front lines of mental healthcare and substance abuse treatment. She said she grew increasingly frustrated by a system that she felt revictimized vulnerable individuals. She wanted to change health policy, so she went back to school at the University of Maryland as a single mother, majoring in women’s studies.
She landed a college internship with Maryland Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, a job she says changed her trajectory.
García went on to serve as chief of staff for Peña-Melnyk, who later recruited her as the executive director for the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus. García also worked as a community liaison for Maryland Sen. Jim Rosapepe and managed field operations for former Sen. Ben Cardin’s reelection. She also worked on Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s failed run for governor in 2014.
Peña-Melnyk said that when García first came to work in her office as an intern, she was impressed by her work ethic, attention to detail and dedication to the community.
“This is someone who was a single parent trying to get her college degree, trying to intern, to learn the system and government,” Peña-Melnyk said. “She earned it. She worked hard. She knows the community quite well, and the issues, those bread-and-butter issues, that affect my constituents and council member [Tom] Dernoga’s constituents.”
For the past eight years, García has served as chief of staff to District 1 council member Tom Dernoga, who was term-limited out of his seat. She has also served two terms on the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee.
Representation in leadership
García is originally from Queens, New York, born to a Peruvian father and Puerto Rican mother. When she was a toddler, her family first settled in Langley Park, right behind the Tick Tock Liquors store. She also lived in Largo and Kettering, and was once crowned Little Miss Kettering when she was in second grade. García’s family relocated to Montgomery County right before she started high school, but she returned to Prince George’s County, where she raised her daughter.
Latinos make up nearly 24% of the county’s population and about 49% of the public school student body. García is eager to bring her perspective to the council, and she praised County Executive Aisha Braveboy’s efforts to amplify diverse voices via initiatives like a Latino roundtable.
“I want to make sure everyone’s at the table,” García said, “because when a voice is missing, then something’s going to be missing.”
She also said she wants to continue her work mentoring young leaders.
“I try to do my best in making sure that young students who don’t know how to get from sitting in a classroom at High Point High School can get to a government office doing an internship,” she said. “Some people just do not know how to segue into that pathway and make that happen.”
The transition
As Dernoga’s chief of staff, García already has a hand in shaping local policy. She said she is currently working on an initiative to make rental licenses more readily available and transparent for tenants.
“This will help ensure that owners aren’t renting without a license, which protects both the owner and the tenant, and also provides a small stream of revenue through those rental licenses,” García said.
She also noted that she is eager to collaborate with the county executive to boost county revenue, uplift small businesses and protect union labor contracts.
García had a large coalition of support during her campaign. She ran on the slates of all three overlapping state legislative districts and secured endorsements from Gov. Wes Moore, U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey and Prince George’s council members Eric Olson, Shayla Adams-Stafford, and Ed Burroughs. The local police and teachers unions also endorsed her.
Her boss, Dernoga, also endorsed her. In their eight years working together, he said, she has operated more like a partner than an employee.
“I have run virtually every significant decision by her for independent assessment,” Dernoga told The Banner. “While we are in sync on most policy issues, she comes from a different background, which provides her with a different worldview. For me, that has been invaluable.”
Dernoga noted that García already has been involved in shaping key legislation.
“She has been a lead proponent on rental license requirements to enhance transparency, strengthening enforcement of property standards and enforcement against illegal businesses in residential communities,” Dernoga said.
Although García does not have a specific piece of legislation that she wants to introduce when she takes office in December, she laid out some of her broad priorities.
“I don’t want to commit to my first piece of legislation, but I am committed to enhancing policies that will strengthen and support environmental sustainability, transparency in government, and support for our government agencies through streamlined services,” García said.
Dernoga, for his part, hopes she prioritizes the buildout of the Konterra Town Center and the expansion of the master plan for Fairland Regional Park to benefit the Laurel-Beltsville communities.
Dernoga has the same advice for García that he gave to former council member Mary Lehman.
“The position comes with ruby slippers,” Dernoga said. “You just have to figure out how to use them so that you can do the most good for your constituents.”
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