Opinion | Elrich gained in Montgomery County. He should do higher in his second time period.

Nonetheless, the outcome was not precisely a ringing endorsement; it’s truthful to see it as a chastening. Regardless of a serious name-recognition benefit and an enormous lead in early polls, Mr. Elrich was the selection of barely fewer than 4 in 10 Democrats who solid a vote. The perfect that may be stated is that he did higher than in 2018, when, in a crowded celebration major area, fewer than 3 in 10 Democrats backed him. (Lively registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Montgomery by practically 10 to 1.)

The query now could be whether or not Mr. Elrich will alter course in a second time period: to enhance his poisonous relations with the county council; to juice Montgomery’s sluggish efficiency in constructing inexpensive housing; and to improve the county’s also-ran regional standing in attracting new companies and employers, a precondition for supporting higher native companies and public colleges. These are alternatives for Mr. Elrich to up his recreation over the approaching 4 years. He ought to seize them.

There isn’t a denying his intelligence, encyclopedic information of the county or attraction to a sure sort of voter. Though he’s undoubtedly a liberal, lots of these voters admire what might be interpreted as his important conservatism — outlined as a resistance to improvement of all types and, extra broadly, change within the bodily panorama.

Like him or not, Mr. Elrich has constructed his recognition and his model as a champion for numerous group teams which have opposed constructing new issues — from roads to transit traces to companies to housing to athletic fields. He even opposed bringing the Fillmore live performance corridor, a well-liked first-class venue, to Silver Spring.

However standing towards issues won’t give Montgomery what it wants, or create for Mr. Elrich a lot of a legacy. It’s time for him to forge a contemporary begin, and the constructing blocks for one are seen. They embody a brand new governor — Mr. Elrich has feuded bitterly with the term-limited incumbent, Republican Larry Hogan — in addition to new county council, on which six first-termers are more likely to compose a majority of the 11 seats.

The chief metric of success for Mr. Elrich begins with a extra sturdy employment base in a county that, regardless of broad affluence and a deep effectively of extremely educated individuals, has misplaced hundreds of high-paying jobs to neighboring jurisdictions for a lot of the previous 15 years. The county has underperformed even in life sciences, which Mr. Elrich himself has recognized as a key space for strategic progress.

Mr. Elrich deserves congratulations for his victory. Montgomery deserves a greater efficiency from him in a second time period.