Counties see electoral news in down-ballot races, initiatives

Key Takeaways

The ranks of federal and state officials will be refreshed with county government veterans in 2025. 

Angela Alsobrooks (D) won a race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland, where she has served as Prince George’s County, Md. executive since 2019, and as county prosecutor since 2011. 

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also won a seat in the Senate. He held an at-large seat on the Whitley County Council from 2008-2010.

Three new members of the House of Representatives will come from county ranks. Two are county executives in the middle of their second terms: John Olszewski (D), who has served nearly six years as Baltimore County, Md. executive, won the state’s 2nd District congressional seat and George Latimer (D), Westchester County, N.Y.’s executive, will represent the state’s 16th District. 

Micheal Baumgartner (R), who has served nearly five years as treasurer of Spokane County, Wash., won the race for the 5th District seat.

Three county veterans were victorious in gubernatorial races this year, including two newcomers.

State Attorney Bob Ferguson (D) won the Washington gubernatorial racwe against former Rep. Dave Reichart (R). Both candidates had served King County — Ferguson served on the County Council from 2004-2013, including as chair of the Council from 2009-2013, and Reichert was a King County sheriff’s deputy from 1972-1997 before County Executive Ron Sims appointed him sheriff in 1997, where he served until 2005. 

Ferguson is the first Washington governor with county experience since Gary Locke (D) who served as governor between 1997-2005, and as King County executive from 1994-1997.

Matt Meyer will be the first Delaware governor since 1887 to have served in county government, following the conclusion of former Sussex County treasurer and sheriff Charles Stockley’s term. Meyer is the two-term New Castle County executive who was first elected in 2016.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R), who served as a Sanpete County commissioner from 2009-2013, was elected to his second term.

Elsewhere in statewide office, in Pennsylvania, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday won the race for attorney general. 

Sunday previously worked as a prosecutor for the county from 2009-2013 before he served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He was first elected district attorney in 2017. 

Ballot measures

Voters in many counties had a chance to take governance into their own hands via various ballot measures. 

Of California’s counties, all but one feature five-member Board of Supervisors, whether their population barely breaks 1,000 or rockets north of nine million. 

Now, after a close battle for Measure G, Los Angeles County, the most populous in the nation, will amend its charter to expand the Board to nine members, which will reduce the number of constituents each supervisor represents to a little more than 1 million, down from nearly 2 million each. Elections for the new seats, which will be outlined by a redistricting committee, will take place in the next election cycle. 

The county will also create a county executive position, to be chosen by voters in 2028, and establish an ethics commission.

California voters defeated an initiative that would have prohibited the state from limiting local governments from enacting rent control and lowered the approval threshold for local special taxes and bond measures to fund housing projects and public infrastructure. 

Voters in Georgia passed measures allowing local options for homestead property tax exemptions and increasing the personal property tax exemption to $20,000 from $7,500.

Utah amended its constitution to require every county elect a sheriff for four-year terms.

Wyoming created a new property tax classification for owner-occupied residential properties, allowing for different assessment rates.

New Mexico counties will now have the authority to set county officer salaries, a responsibility that was previously reserved for the Legislature.

To the relief of the state’s counties, North Dakota voters defeated a measure that would have eliminated property taxes and not prescribed a substitute funding mechanism. 

Howard County, Md. will establish an office of the inspector general to investigate whistleblowers’ complaints, spending and county operations, a proposal that received unanimous support from local elected officials. 

Meanwhile voters in Pitkin County, Colo. defeated a measure that would have taken decision-making out of commissioners’ hands with regard to the county airport. A citizen-initiated home rule charter amendment would have made runway relocation or expansion at the airport subject to voter approval, which would likely have been contrary to agreements that the county made with the federal government when accepting federal funds for airport upgrades, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association reported.

Hundreds of single-county initiatives addressed sales tax increases that fund various projects, traditional infrastructure and parks. 

A tax increase that passed in Oakland County, Mich. aimed at improving parks will have an added benefit for residents: Free entry into parks and dog parks that charge a vehicle fee. 

The proposal is expected to generate $24 million annually until it expires in 2043 and will fund various improvements, trails and the Oakland County Farmers Market, trail expansions, accessibility improvements, expanded enrichment programs, and more.