Nancy Wallace is a long time national and local environmental activist, a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, and a Green Party member since 2003. She is running for U.S. House of Representatives, MD Congressional District 8, which runs from Gaithersburg south to DC. She recently spoke at the Green Party National Meeting about her candidacy and priorities.

Campaign Priorities

Climate Change

Most candidates in our region have climate change somewhere in their platforms—but Wallace sees climate as the top priority: “I support declaration of an emergency. It’s World War III and our habits and our apathy are the enemy—along with the corporate-Wall Street perpetual growth paradigm. And I find that resonates across the spectrum of voters.” Wallace will maximize the use of solar energy—much like she’s already done at her own Bethesda home—and promote federal help for all 50 states to transition to 100% renewables within 5 years. She proposes a national “Climate Change Corps,” modeled on the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps that helped stop the Dustbowl and the Great Depression, to provide 100% employment in climate-transition projects.

Culture of Violence

From actual violence in our homes and streets, to violence in our entertainment, Wallace sees many opportunities to move away from the normalization of violence we see in society today. “It’s our whole culture of dominance that’s been here for 400 years,” Wallace says. “We need to say it, name it, and shift our paradigm.” She advocates funding local mental health priorities, training children in peaceful conflict resolution, applying movie-type violence ratings to video games with age limits, promoting women’s political leadership, increasing funding for programs stopping violence against women, and reducing the military as our major foreign policy approach. “Federal policy should be funding caring and compassion, not violence and domination.”

Wealth Redistribution

In America today, 10% of the population owns 50% of property while the bottom 50% of the population by wealth own only 3%. Wallace’s platform calls for trusted solutions, such as reinstating various capital gains taxes, and creative new solutions, such as a housing “musical chairs” day when whatever housing you are residing in on that day becomes yours to own. She pioneered the concept of a new type of “fair mortgage” where the owner and the mortgage company get paid at the same rate each month, instead of the banks getting all their profit up front; this builds equity quickly for the owner, rebuilding wealth in the middle class.

Men’s Contraception

Wallace first got involved in advocating for men’s modern, reversible contraception in 2014 and cofounded the non-profit research organization Male Contraception Initiative. “From a human rights standpoint, men have a fundamental right to control their reproductive decisions equivalent to women’s rights. And it helps women’s survival rates and children’s survival just as much as it helps men.” In a country where more than 37% of pregnancies are still unintended, Wallace sees safe, effective, and reversible men’s contraceptives as a means to improve child welfare, women’s health, and men’s rights all in one program. Her platform calls for major funding to active research efforts through Phase III clinical studies, prioritized review by regulatory agencies, and education of men on their right to “fatherhood by choice.”

“Delighted to Have a Tough Opponent”

This will be Wallace’s third run for Maryland’s Congressional District 8, going up against 5-term Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin. What does she bring to the table and why is this run different? “Rep. Raskin and I are fundamentally different, not just in our policy positions, but ethically and in temperament as well,” says Wallace. Like the entire Green Party, Wallace eschews corporate money, instead focusing on actual constituents and their needs. “The voters here and across the country want a candidate and a party they can believe in, that is ethical, doesn’t take corporate funds, and puts people above partisan politics. They really want something different,” says Wallace. “Voters feel so disconnected and their daily struggles ignored, that just getting out there and talking to voters, by someone who’s genuine and doesn’t take corporate money really touches them.”

One example where Raskin has failed constituents is in his refusal to denounce the desecration of the African Moses Cemetery in District 8—while Wallace is a strong advocate for memorialization and reparations for the descendants of those interred. Wallace will “give the majority of voters in Montgomery County a bold, scientifically-based advocate for the climate emergency, provide women’s leadership towards peace and child-centered public policy, from a candidate who truly cares about them and their daily challenges for survival,” she says. “Our district wants a bold voice with new solutions, not just blaming the Republicans for everything. We need to stop the ‘us vs. them’ fight mentality that Raskin displays in his committee hearings and instead put our energy into building a peaceful, sustainable society.”

Support the Campaign

View video of Wallace’s remarks at the Green Party National Meeting August 1, 2025:

The Green Party Social Justice Platform Black Agenda item 11 calls for the protection and preservation of African and African American cemeteries: “The erasure of African/African-American history, such as the desecration of African cemeteries, is the bedrock and foundation of white supremacy. Desecration is one of the physical manifestations of genocide and historic trauma.” One of the largest known such cemeteries, potentially interring 500 people, is located in Montgomery County: Bethesda’s Moses African Cemetery. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) is dedicated to the protection and preservation of this historic burial ground—and since its inception, has closely partnered with the Green Party to achieve those aims.

“I first learned about BACC while I was running for County Council at large In 2016,” says Montgomery County and Maryland Green Party Treasurer Tim Willard. “I went to an event they hosted at Macedonia Baptist Church. I learned more about their work and decided to get involved.”

BACC was formally founded in 2017 by its current President (and one-time Dr. Jill Stein Shadow Cabinet member) Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo to “end the desecration of Moses Cemetery, educate our community about those who were buried there, build a museum and sacred space to honor our African ancestors, and demand accountability for those responsible for this criminal desecration.” In the years since, BACC has driven activism, research, and lawsuits in support of this mission.

Moses African Cemetery first served as an African burial ground in the 1700s, when the four largest tobacco plantations along River Road—Counselman, Shoemaker, Loughborough, and Posey—dumped the brutalized bodies of enslaved people in mass graves there. Following emancipation, a vibrant Maroon community cropped up, with 60 families turning the marshland of Greysville into a thriving, self-supporting town that continued to use Moses Cemetery. In the 1940s, persecution ramped up: led by the KKK in collusion with Montgomery County officials, every Black resident of Greysville was violently dispossessed by the 1960s, survived only by the Macedonia Baptist Church that still stands today, and the area was rezoned for commercial use. In the 1950s, a large portion of the cemetery was bulldozed to create a highrise apartment building and its parking lot that are now owned by Montgomery County’s Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC).

HOC attempted to sell the portion of the cemetery deeded in 1910, referred to as “New Moses,” to a land developer.  BACC successfully filed a temporary restraining order to stop the transaction. This case was eventually heard at the Maryland Supreme Court, which ruled that the cemetery could be sold but that descendants could sue developers for desecration and receive equitable relief. A second lot has since been desecrated by Arizona company 1784 Holdings, which is currently building a self-storage unit there. Over years of protests, weekly rallies, and legal action, no Montgomery County or Maryland Democratic elected official has denounced the desecration of Moses African Cemetery or African cemeteries in general. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich attributed to animals the human remains that were dug up and alternately sent to a landfill or to a Wetland Studies and Solutions (WSSI) warehouse in Gainesville, Virginia—despite a 2017 investigation by archeological consulting firm the Ottery Group (commissioned by the Montgomery County Planning Department) finding that the area was, indeed, a Black cemetery. Today, BACC awaits the outcome of a lawsuit recently sent back to the Circuit County Court from the Maryland Supreme Court to seek relief. The initial hearing took place at the end of August 2025.

“MoCo Greens partner with BACC because our social justice values make BACC’s issue important to us,” says Willard. “The Black community on River Road was oppressed by Jim Crow during its existence, and its cemetery was desecrated after the community was erased by developers. Justice is needed for the ancestors.” MoCo Greens see frequent invitations to BACC events—subscribe to our mailing list or consult BACC’s event page to get involved in rectifying this injustice.

Below, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo presents The Hidden History of Black Communities Along River Road to Macedonia Baptist Church in January 2025.