State Sen. Charles Sydnor considering run for Baltimore County executive in 2026

Lia Russell

The Baltimore Sun

October 22, 2023

A state senator who recently accused the Baltimore County Council of violating state and federal civil rights law and is likely to sue may run to succeed County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. in 2026, becoming the fourth person to consider a run for the position.

“I’m certainly considering it,” Democratic Sen. Charles E. Sydnor III, 50, said Tuesday of his intentions. Olszewski is currently running in the 2nd Congressional District against Republican Kim Klacik. “Nothing’s been decided yet,” Sydnor said.

He ruled out a run for Baltimore County state’s attorney.

Sydnor has represented western Baltimore County since January 2020. Olszewski’s current term ends in November 2026. Council Chair Izzy Patoka and Councilman Julian Jones have said they will run; Councilman Pat Young is also considering a campaign. All three are Democrats. Arbutus lawyer and good governance advocate Nick Stewart is also rumored to be considering a campaign, though he declined to confirm anything Tuesday. The county executive currently earns $192,000 annually.

Whoever wins in 2026 could inherit a radically different council if county voters pass a ballot measure on Election Day to expand the seven-member council by two. If approved, this measure would go into effect in the 2026 election cycle. The council passed a related bill July 1, led by Patoka, its chief sponsor.

Expansion advocates said the measure would offer women and minorities more chances to run for office. The Republican council members said they voted to expand despite early trepidation because Patoka assured them the council would remain bipartisan.

Sydnor is one of a handful of Democratic state legislators, including House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, who said Patoka’s bill violated state law and the federal Voting Rights Act. They and Olszewski threw their weight behind a competing effort in August to expand the council by four seats, which failed to gather enough signatures to appear on the ballot.

The Maryland ACLU argued that proposed redistricting maps included in Patoka’s bill disenfranchised Black people and other residents of color who make up 47% of the county population, by splitting majority-minority districts. The state ACLU affiliate, which previously sued the county in 2021 over redistricting, has threatened a lawsuit; Sydnor said he would likely be a plaintiff. No such lawsuit existed in federal or state courts as of Tuesday. Patoka accused the ACLU last month of concocting a “political stunt.”

The measure is included on the Nov. 5 ballot as Question A, which would make council members full-time positions in addition to adding to seats.

“There’s room for everybody on this council,” Sydnor said. “It doesn’t have to be all white and all male.”

The County Council is currently made up of six white men and one Black man.

The next county executive could inherit looming budgetary woes and the expiration of consent decrees in the fire department and the housing department. The county must build 1,000 units of affordable housing by 2027 to correct decades of discriminatory housing policies, per an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Officials and civic leaders are split over whether Baltimore County will meet that goal.

“We’ve got to get up from under those consent decrees,” Sydnor said. Residents and some council members have pushed back against attempts to spur more development in Baltimore County, which shares some of the regional housing crunch.

“Housing has always been an issue. We’ve got to make sure citizens know that affordable housing means just that: housing that is affordable,” Sydnor said. “We need businesses to come into the county that pay well, and they can’t do that if there’s no housing for their workers.”

Known as a quiet but civil-rights-minded legislator, Sydnor was involved in the General Assembly’s police reform discussions in 2021. He was one of two Democrats, along with Jill P. Carter, to cast a vote against a Senate law that added more stringent accountability measures to the state’s juvenile justice system.