Marybeth Ayres

City/town of residence: Montgomery County

Age: 52

Current/previous employers:

  • Associate judge, Montgomery County Circuit Court (2022-present)
  • Assistant state’s attorney, Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office (2004-2008, 2011-2022)
  • Assistant state’s attorney, Homicide Division, Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office (2003-2004)
  • Assistant district attorney, District Attorney’s Office for Queens County, NY (1998-2003)

Political experience: None

Website: www.electsittingjudges.com

Email: electjudgemba@gmail.com

Social media links (Facebook, Instagram, X, etc.): facebook.com/electsittingjudgesmontgomerycounty

Why are you running for office?

I wanted to be a judge and I want to keep my job as a judge. It’s really for the same reason I became a lawyer, which is that I love justice and doing what’s right. I think I see it as being a servant. I’m serving other people as a judge, and I also felt this way when I was a lawyer.

You get to speak the truth and justice all the time. Not just speak about it, which a lot of us do when we talk to each other, but you are it. You’re deciding what the truth is here, and what the right thing to happen is, and it’s a very rewarding experience. I find it to be a privilege.

What experience (work, political or other) has prepared you to hold this office?

I love hearing from different people and coming to a decision as to what is just and right. It’s not always easy, but I feel that my background prepared me well for that. I had to do that every day as a prosecutor because in the cases I handled. Also, I worked with so many kinds of people in the prosecutor’s office. I speak Spanish, so I have so many opportunities to connect with people in their native language who speak Spanish. On top of that, I was in the courtroom all the time and trying many, many murder cases. I’m very comfortable in the courtroom and very comfortable with the rules of evidence.

What’s the most important issue in this election?

I would say the most important issue is having a judge who listens and has impeccable qualifications, like [someone who has] a really good mind in the law, but also a heart and empathy, because it’s not a massive mathematical equation when you’re sitting and hearing a case. It also requires empathy and compassion and being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. I think you need a judge who listens, who is qualified and who has good judgment.

Is there anything else you’d like to comment on about this race?

I want people to see who I really am. And so, to that extent, I’m enjoying meeting all these people that I have to for the election. Politics is not familiar territory for me, but I do like meeting a lot of different people, and I just really want people to see the person that I am that I believe is really competent to do this job but also caring. That’s the message I would want to get out there. I’m a confident and caring person.