Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D). File photo by Bryan P. Sears.
Even with this year’s elections dominated by presidential politics and national storylines, Maryland voters made significant changes to their local governments Tuesday — though they weren’t as extensive as they could have been.
In Montgomery County, voters overwhelmingly embraced a two-term limit for their county executive — meaning the incumbent, Marc Elrich (D), will be out of a job in two years.
Voters in Harford County also imposed term limits on their county council members for the first time.
But voters in Charles County and Wicomico County opted to maintain the status quo in their local governments, despite high-profile, emotional debates to change them.
And voters in Baltimore City and Baltimore County decided Tuesday that size matters: City voters rejected an effort to reduce the size of their council, while their neighbors in the county decided to expand membership on the county council.
Montgomery County
Just eight years ago, voters in Maryland’s largest jurisdiction adopted three-term limits for the county executive and the county council with a surprisingly robust 69% of the vote. That question was put on the ballot by political provocateur Robin Ficker, a frequent Republican candidate for public office.
This year, Reardon Sullivan, Elrich’s GOP challenger in 2022, succeeded in putting a question on the countywide ballot limiting the county executive to just two terms. The vote this time was almost as resounding as it was in 2016: With 153 of 257 Election Day precincts reporting as of late Tuesday night, the question was heading to passage with 67% of voters approving it (the vote totals include early voting and mail-in tallies).
While the Montgomery County Democratic Party and some unions opposed the term-limit measure — and some business groups that routinely align against Elrich embraced it — the issue did not attract the attention it was expected to, and some of Elrich’s allies only mobilized against it late.
In an interview Tuesday night, Elrich said he was “not totally surprised” by the result, and blamed term-limit advocates and developers for mischaracterizing the current county law.
“They didn’t tell people the executive already has term limits,” he said.
An avowed Democratic Socialist and one-of-a-kind veteran officeholder, Elrich spent three terms on the county council before being elected executive in 2018 and served 19 years on the Takoma Park City Council before that. The vote immediately makes him a lame duck. A long line of ambitious Montgomery County politicians, primarily from the county council, will inevitably contemplate running to replace him in 2026, and the cycle could also be ripe for a political outsider to prosper.
Elrich’s two immediate predecessors as county executive, Isiah Leggett (D) and Doug Duncan (D), each served three terms.
Because the term limits law adopted in 2016 only limit county officeholders to three consecutive terms, Elrich would be eligible for a political comeback in 2026, if he chooses to run for a council seat again, as is the current rumor in Rockville. He would be 77 then.
Harford County
Harford County voters also overwhelmingly embraced term limits for the first time for their county council. County executives there have had two-term limits for decades, but the same edict did not apply to the six council members.
Question A, which passed 91% to 9%, prohibits a council member from consecutively serving more than three four-year terms and prohibits a council president from consecutively serving more than three four-year terms in that job. Five of the six council members are elected by district, while the council president is elected countywide.
The current members of the council will not be immediately impacted by this vote, the way Elrich will be in Montgomery County.
Charles County
The largest county in Southern Maryland will be keeping its form of government after voters rejected an amendment to adopt a charter government by a 44% to 56% vote. Instead of electing a county executive and five county council members chosen by district beginning in 2026, as they would have under a charter form of government, the current system will remain intact, with its four county commissioners elected by district and a commission president elected countywide.
Proponents of the switch have argued that having a county executive puts a face on the Charles County government, someone who can take the lead advocating for the county’s needs in Annapolis and negotiating economic development deals. They also argued that a charter government would be more accountable to citizens.
But this is now the second time in a decade that Charles County voters have opposed a change in government; the opposition was led by the police and firefighter unions and the local teachers’ union.
Charles County continues to go through tremendous economic and demographic changes. Once mostly white and rural, the fast-growing county is becoming increasingly suburban — and is now the most prosperous majority-Black jurisdiction in the U.S. But the change will not be yielding a change in county government — at least for now.
Wicomico County
Across the Bay, Wicomico County voters went in the opposite direction, rejecting a ballot measure that would have eliminated the county executive’s position and the county council and returned the government to an all-commissioner format.
The 45% to 55% result represents a temporary respite for County Executive Julie Giordano (R), who has been in a power struggle with certain veteran council members since the minute she took office in December 2022. These council leaders succeeded in putting the question on the ballot, but they could not get it over the top with the electorate.
Wicomico residents voted in favor of creating a charter government 20 years ago, but ever since the first executive was elected in 2006 there have been territorial feuds between the administration and the council — even when they belonged to the same political party.
Giordano, a former teacher who was a political neophyte associated with conservative groups when she was elected executive, is not out of the political woods yet. She could face a tough primary from a fellow Republican in 2026, at the same time the county, particularly in Salisbury, is gradually becoming increasingly Democratic. This is a storyline to watch for the foreseeable future.
Baltimore City
Voters in the state’s biggest city appeared headed to rejecting an attempt to reduce the size of the city council from 14 seats to eight. The vote late Tuesday, with 107 of 295 Election Day precincts reporting, was failing 38% to 62%.
The measure made it to the ballot thanks to an aggressive campaign by David Smith, the conservative chair of the Sinclair television network who recently bought The Baltimore Sun. In 2022, Smith was behind a successful effort to establish a two-term limit for elected officials in the city.
Supporters of the amendment said the council should shrink as the city’s population shrinks. The current council size was set in 2002, when voters approved a measure to reduce the council from 18 members and establish 14 single-member districts.
Each of the 14 council members represented about 45,893 residents at that time; today, that number has dropped to about 40,000. If the proposal had passed, each member on an eight-person council would have represented more than 70,000 people.
Supporters of the amendment also argued that it would save the city money and increase efficiency. However, the city’s Charter Review Commission argued that fewer members of the city council would simply mean a higher workload for a reconfigured office and would not yield savings.
The commission also expressed concern that a smaller council would “diminish Black electoral power in a majority Black city” and that a smaller council could be more easily swayed by powerful special interests.
Baltimore County
With all but one of 243 Election Day precincts reporting early Wednesday, 60% of Baltimore County voters had OK’d a plan to increase the number of elected Baltimore County Council members from seven to nine. The new, expanded council map would be put into effect for the 2026 election.
In approving the amendment, the council also proposed new council districts, which would include a second majority-Black district and a conservative-leaning district.
The council currently has a 4-3 Democratic majority.
But even without this vote, the county government is headed for significant changes. County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D), who was elected Tuesday to represent the 2nd District in Congress, will leave his post sometime between now and early January, halfway through his second term. The council will choose his replacement.
It is looking increasingly likely — though by no means certain — that the person the council selects to replace Olszewski will simply serve on an interim basis to finish the final two years of his term. But three council members are interested in running for executive in 2026 — Julian Jones (D), Izzy Patoka (D) and Pat Young (D) — while another council member, Wade Kach (R), plans to retire in 2026.
So plan for a lot of turnover on the council in 2026 — and now there will be two more seats for ambitious politicians to shoot for.