The White House is shaping Montgomery County’s legislative priorities for 2026 — much to county leaders’ chagrin.

“I’m pretty sure if there was actually a Satan, it would kind of look like what we’re dealing with now,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich told a crowd of several hundred at the annual Committee for Montgomery legislative breakfast at the Strathmore in North Bethesda on Friday.

The annual meeting is considered the “who’s who” networking event for political influencers in the heavily Democratic county. The committee, a bipartisan coalition of community leaders, announces its legislative agenda at the breakfast and invites local politicians to share theirs.

The consensus: prioritize the county’s response to what many described as a Trump administration attack on its institutions, workers and immigrants.

The committee exhorted local officials to make the county a “stabilizing force” in uncertain times, pushing for the restoration of slashed federal funding and safeguarding local businesses and nonprofits.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen said his main priority is addressing cuts to federal agencies, among the county’s top employers. The Trump administration laid off tens of thousands of Montgomery County residents earlier this year.

“We’re fighting battles on many fronts, but of course, for this region, we are disproportionately impacted by their assault on federal employees,” Van Hollen said. “We’re working with communities around the country to push back and fight back in the courts.”

Others spoke about the need to diversify the county’s economic base to diminish reliance on beleaguered federal agencies, including the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health.

“As much as I love life sciences … even life sciences has ups and downs,” Elrich said. “So we are actually looking at manufacturing companies to come to Montgomery County.”

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks applauded efforts to diversify the local economy but also looked to the courts to challenge cuts and closures.

“America’s exceptionalism rests on our prowess in science, research, technology and medicine, and unfortunately, this particular administration is ceding our global position,” she said.

Immigrants, transphobia, antisemitism

Many officials also spoke to the impact of federal crackdowns on marginalized communities, particularly immigrants. Newly elected County Council President Natali Fani-González touted a new bill that restricts some ICE access to county facilities as an example of how she wants the county to respond to federal force.

“Everybody should feel safe in this county,” she said. “We want to make sure that you’re in a neighborhood where people can feel free and comfortable calling the police if they see a crime.”

At the Maryland Lox and Legislators breakfast on Wednesday, at which many of the same county and state leaders gathered — with the addition of Gov. Wes Moore — officials also expressed concerns for immigrants and other vulnerable groups.

“Respecting other people in their cultures, their religions, their differences, has become a negative,” said U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey at the gathering, which was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in Rockville.

“We need to make sure that we’re proud to be woke,” he said.

Without naming names, Ivey chided politicians who he said are compromising their opposition to antisemitism and transphobia to avoid political pushback.

State Sen. Ben Kramer, who sponsored a bill to require Holocaust education in public schools during the last legislative session, said it can help combat Holocaust denial and other misinformation.

“We need to put the facts out there and not permit the haters to carry the day,” Kramer said.

Gov. Wes Moore pledged to preserve funding for state hate crime security grants — which help houses of worship and other institutions pay for security cameras and other protection — despite a tightening purse. A similar county grant program has grown over the past several years.

“Not only do we believe in being in a loving community, but that we also believe in consequences for those who don’t,” Moore said.