Hon. James Gore

Supervisor James Gore became NACo President on July 15, 2024. 

Serving his home county in the heart of California’s Wine Country for the last eight years, James has shown steadfast and innovative leadership through an unprecedented barrage of fires, floods, droughts and more. He has become a well-known champion of resiliency by engaging and empowering residents through recovery and rebuilding in the wake of wildfires. James led efforts to secure historic regional, state, and federal funding for emergency preparedness and infrastructure investments. He is also a key local and state leader on housing, homelessness, and behavioral health.

During the pandemic, James led the California State Association of Counties as President through the multitude of statewide prevention and response actions. Locally, he spearheaded the creation of Sonoma County’s Office of Equity to take on the disparate impacts of COVID on underserved communities.

Working with county leaders from across the country inspired him to run for NACo leadership and he was recently elected to serve as 2nd Vice President of the organization. 

James Gore proudly serves his community and the larger County family in the following areas:

• Second Vice President, National Association of Counties (NACo)
• Chair, NACo Programs and Services Committee
• Former Chair, NACo Resilient Counties Advisory Board
• Member, NACo LUCC and RAC
• Immediate Past President, California State Association of Counties
• Executive Committee, Latino Caucus of California Counties
• Appointee, FEMA National Advisory Council
• Co-Chair, North Coast Resource Partnership (7 county/30 tribe consortium)
• Gubernatorial Appointee, California State Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Task Force
• Former Member, Resilient America Roundtable for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine

James began his public service life as a volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps in Bolivia, where he helped communities build water management and agricultural systems. James resides in Healdsburg, California where he and his wife Elizabeth raise their children, Opal and Jacob.