Four Democrats vying to be the next Howard County Executive

HOWARD COUNTY, Md. — The race for the next Howard County executive is fast approaching with a crowded field of Democrats who are hopeful to replace Calvin Ball, when his term is up later this year. No Republicans are running, meaning the decision about who will replace him will be made this June.

Early voting begins on Thursday, June 11, with Primary Day on Tuesday, June 23. The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday, June 2.

A former state delegate, a restaurant consultant, and two sitting county council members are all in the running.

Keep reading to learn more about each candidate (in alphabetical order):

Vanessa Atterbeary

Atterbeary, after 11 years with the Maryland General Assembly and who most recently chaired the Ways and Means Committee made the decision to run for Howard County Executive to bring her skill set back home.

“This is the community that made me who I am; It’s the community that gave me the value of public service and giving back. I really see being elected as community service. And that’s where I learned it, growing up in Howard County,” she said.

If elected, she would be the first Black female County Executive in the county’s history.

During her interview with WMAR-2 News, Atterbeary highlighted her record within the state legislature, including ending child marriage in Maryland, the passage of legislation related to child abuse, sexual assault, and domestic abuse, and strengthening gun laws.

“I have never put in legislation to be performative, to make a point. I put in legislation with the intent of passing it,” she said. “And I don’t stop until we get it passed.”

She also worked on the Maryland Blueprint, an education reform plan, and says she would be the best candidate to implement it.

That, along with the following topics, are what Atterbeary believes the top challenges in the county, in order: Deferred school maintenance, fighting Trump’s agenda, public safety, and affordability.

Atterbeary leads the group with the most funding so far, at more than $600,000. She is not utilizing public financing through the Citizens' Election Fund, like other candidates.

“I don’t believe in this situation that when there are budget issues, when we’ve got deferred maintenance problems, we’ve got affordability issues, that folks should be forced to contribute to somebody’s campaign,” she said.

Endorsements:
Howard County Education Association
Painter’s Union
County Council Chair Opel Jones
U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks
U.S. Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth
Maryland Treasurer Dereck Davis
Former Howard County Executive Ken Ullman
Ethics Ballot
Lodge 143 HoCo Police Supervisors Alliance
Lodge 21 HoCo Police Officers Association
Columbia Democratic Club

Bob Cockey

Cockey is the only candidate running for Howard County Executive who does not come from a political background, but rather is a small business restaurant consultant and believes the county “needs to think outside the box.”

“I did not create this affordability crisis; my opponents did. They were in Annapolis. Well, one of them was. Voted on every tax increase in the last eight years. I’m not responsible for the affordability crisis. I’m the small business person who knows what it’s like to keep a budget. You can keep robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said.

Though he’s running as a Democrat in this race, he has previously run on a Republican ticket for state senate against incumbent Clarence Lam.

He says, if elected, he would represent constituents of all political backgrounds, putting together what he calls the “dream team” to run the county.

While he believes that school funding is a big issue like his opponents, his platform largely focuses on affordability. He plans to create 1,200 square foot first-time home buyer projects as one solution. He also plans to focus on replacing lost federal jobs with healthcare workers.

“We can bring them in from Puerto Rico because they already speak English and Spanish, they’re bilingual, most of ‘em and they don’t need a work visa. They’re already U.S. Citizens. Bingo! Done,” he said.

Cockey has the least amount of funding of all the candidates, but says that does not deter him. Referencing the first Black woman elected to Congress, Shirley Chisholm’s famous line: “Unbought, unbossed.”

“I don’t need as much as they do. Me and my volunteers we put up my own signs,” he said. “If you work smart, that’s where it counts.”

Deb Jung

Jung, a sitting county council member representing District 1, spent a career as a non-profit attorney and juggled community leadership like being a PTA mom and Wilde Lake booster president, before running for her current seat eight years ago once her daughter graduated high school.

Schools were a main motivator for her to run for political office.
Jung also secured an endorsement from Howard County's first and only female county executive, Liz Bobo.

“It’s about time that we have another female county executive. I know that I will be that county executive because I am ready to lead on day 1," she said.

She’s also one of two candidates using the Citizens’ Election Fund to finance her campaign, which cannot take money from special interest groups, corporations or PACs.

“This is a game-changer. We need to hire, vote for someone, me, who will answer first and foremost to the residents of Howard County. That’s what a publicly financed candidate does. And this is an opportunity to make a paradigm change,” she said.

During her interview with WMAR-2 News she highlighted her work to bring an Inspector General position to Howard County, raising the school impact fee for the first time in 19 years and getting the aging in place tax credit passed through council.

If elected, she has 6 goals for the county: Funding for schools, growing the economy, affordability, not raising taxes, public safety, protecting the environment and bringing back trust in government.

Jung also led the charge to block W.R. Grace from a controversial plastics recycling project, which failed in council. She promises if elected, she’ll find another way to stop it.

“The fight is never over,” she said.

Endorsements:
Howard County Association of Realtors
IAFF Local 2000 (Howard County Professional Fire Fighters Association)
Liz Bobo (first and only female County Executive in Howard County history)

Liz Walsh

Walsh, the sitting council member of Howard County’s District 4, has a background in construction law and civil engineering. She practiced in DC for years before running for council and says she’s now ready to take the next step.

An outspoken member of the council, Walsh views herself as a grassroots candidate.

"If something is wrong, then yeah, I think it's my job to say that. And I think it's my job to fix it, right?” She said. “We’re not fixing anything if we’re pretending like there's not a problem.”

She believes that school financing is the number one challenge facing the county right now. During her time on the dias, she says the underfunding of the district was a great concern.

“That’s what prompted us to dig into those financials. What we found is there was lots of money there. We were just arbitrarily putting these stops or limits on what we were willing to extend, both on the operational side and on the capital side to schools. And it was doing real harm,” she said.

The following are core principles of her campaign: schools, land use reform (affordability, environmental protections), and human rights.

She’s also introduced legislation that would provide guidance on how county employees should deal with Immigrations Customs and Enforcement (ICE) as the county fought to block a proposed ICE facility in Elkridge. She also alerted the community about reports of ICE activity, though it drew flak from the police union that claimed it was police undercover work she had put at risk.

Walsh says it is an "indisputable" fact that ICE has been operating in the county.

She is also a part of the Citizens’ Election Fund, where candidates can only accept small donors and the county matches up to a certain amount. Though she is in third place when it comes to campaign financing, she says she is unfazed.``

“I think that the expectation, the lore is, that whoever has the most money is going to win. But that’s been the lore in 2 races now, that I have won,” she said.

Endorsements:
CASA in Action
Ellicott City & Western Howard Democratic Club
CAIR Action
Howard County Muslim Alliance