The Howard County Council is due for a makeover and will look very different after the 2026 election.

While all five of the current council members could run again, three of them have said they are running for other offices or planning to leave politics. That means the County Council will look very different after the 2026 election.

That’s set off a scramble among interested would-be politicians in one of Maryland’s most affluent counties, where leaders don’t want to do anything to threaten its well-regarded schools but wrestle with issues like housing affordability and immigration.

So far, seven candidates, including first-timers and returning challengers, have jumped into the races early. Candidates have until Feb. 26 to declare their candidacies.

The council seats for districts 1, 4 and 5 will be open.

David Yungmann, the board’s lone Republican representing District 5, said in March that he will leave office at the end of his term to focus on his real estate career. Deb Jung, a Democrat representing District 4, launched a campaign for Howard County Executive in April. District 1 council member Liz Walsh, a Democrat, also plans to announce a run for county executive at the end of June.

Opel Jones, a Democrat representing District 2, has not announced plans for the next election cycle and did not respond to a request for comment. Christiana Rigby, a Democrat representing District 3, said this spring that she doesn’t plan to run for county executive. As of Wednesday, no challengers have filed to run in Rigby’s district. She did not respond to a request for comment about her election plans.

Here’s who filed to run as of Wednesday.

District 1

James Handley

With the onset of a second Trump administration, James Handley believes the Democratic Party needs fighters like him.

The former Army officer’s experience comes from deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, and work in the Maryland Attorney General’s Office as assistant attorney general in the civil litigation division.

“In this time period, where the country has sort of lost its way, Howard County can be a beacon for a better path,” said Handley, 39. “That time calls for a fighter.”

This is Handley’s first campaign for public office. He said he plans to advocate for funding the Howard County Public School System, affordability for working families and preservation of the county’s green spaces.

He also plans to use the Citizens’ Election Fund, which encourages candidates to rely on small, private donations. Candidates who use the fund receive matching county dollars for each donation, but are barred from accepting money from political action committees, corporations, businesses, labor organizations or political parties.

Kevin Chin

Kevin Chin, a Democrat, said he can see where the social safety net breaks down in his work as a doctor at MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore.

“I want to solve the root cause of why someone ends up under my care, and I think I can do that on a larger political level,” said Chin, 37.

Housing affordability is a huge issue, he said. The doctor is active in the Howard County Housing Affordability Coalition and worries that some essential workers, like teachers and police officers, cannot afford to live where they work.

Howard County often emphasizes inclusivity, Chin said, “but you cannot be an inclusive community if you are an unaffordable one.”

He’s also using Howard County’s Citizens Election Fund to finance his campaign, which he sees as an incentive to listen to donors and voters.

District 2

Arinze Ifekauche

Arinze Ifekauche thinks experience matters in this Howard County Council race. He has worked in politics and public policy at the federal, state and local levels, and currently works in Maryland’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy.

The Democrat runs several youth programs in Howard and is a proud member of Celebration Church in Columbia and the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He said his work and public service gave him experience in building relationships and leveraging resources.

“I’m somebody that understands that the loudest voice in the room is not always the right voice,” he said.

Lately, several neighbors on Ifekauche’s cul-de-sac in Oakland Mills have lost their federal jobs. The candidate is particularly worried about the county’s affordability when some Howard residents face job instability as the Trump administration slashes the civil service.

Ifekauche, 39, wants to find ways to make the county more affordable, from lowering the cost of childcare to motivating employers to move into the jurisdiction.

Jessica Nichols

Schools are what made Jessica Nichols move to Howard County a decade ago. The educator was recently named Howard County’s Teacher of the Year. She declined to name the school where she works, but said it is outside of District 2.

Schools are also what motivated her to run as a Democrat. Nichols, 49, wants to fully fund the school system without raising taxes and is concerned about public safety, particularly for young people.

Outside the classroom, Nichols is involved in a number of local groups, including the Columbia Democratic Club, Howard County Democratic Central Committee, Howard County Commission for Women, and the local nonprofit Columbia Community Care. Each taught Nichols more about the county’s needs, she said.

Yet Nichols is committed to joining the County Council with an open mind.

“I don’t bring a massive ego,” she said. “I am not looking to be right when the constituents need me to be willing.”

District 4

Janssen Evelyn

Originally from Barbados, Janssen Evelyn and his family moved to Maryland when he was eight years old. Later on in the 45-year-old’s career in law and local government, he came to learn a term for families like his, who live just above the poverty line. Some organizations and states call them ALICE families: asset-limited, income-constrained, employed.

“Policy doesn’t always hit the people on the edge,” Evelyn said. “Having grown up on the edge and now having access to ‘power,’ or the decision-making table, I feel like I’m uniquely qualified to be that bridge.”

Evelyn previously worked as a solicitor in Howard County’s Office of Law and later as assistant chief administrative officer in County Executive Calvin Ball’s administration. These days, he’s a deputy chief administrative officer in Anne Arundel County (County Executive Steuart Pittman recently made an appearance at his campaign launch event in June.)

Evelyn ran as a Democrat for District 4 once before, in 2022, and narrowly lost by 239 votes to Jung, who is now seeking another elected office.

He is campaigning once again on his record of community service and years of experience in county government. Evelyn said he’s eager to work on funding for public education, housing affordability, land use and economic development.

District 5

Cat Carter

When Cat Carter encounters a problem, her motto is “Just fix it.”

“I want to look at what policy, regulations or legislation needs to be created or adopted or corrected to help the lives of my community,” said Carter, 46.

As a parent and former public school teacher, she said she has experience in advocating for more inclusive educational policies and interpretations of the law. She ran for Howard County Board of Education in 2024 but did not garner enough votes in the primary to appear on the November ballot. The seat later went to Andrea Chamblee.

Carter decided to run for the council now after watching the county budget negotiations this spring. She wants more funding for public education and is concerned about overcrowding in schools, as well as land preservation in Howard’s western reaches.

District 5 tends to vote for more conservative candidates than other parts of the county. As a Democrat, though, she’s not worried.

“There’s just a real sense [that voters want] to have somebody who will listen to them, who will empathize with them and who has the track record that I do on fixing problems,” she said.

Steven Bolen

Retired federal worker Steven Bolen has unfinished business in Howard County.

The Marriottsville resident and Democrat ran unsuccessfully for state delegate in 2018 and 2022. Bolen is now seeking a seat on the County Council to continue serving the public. He’s interested in transparency and accountability over political infighting.

“If you’re the type of person who’s always fighting with your colleagues, at some point, you’re going to get spun off in the corner ... and you’re not going to get what you need to get done,” Bolen said.

Bolen, 62, has served on the Howard County Police Department’s citizens advisory council and more recently on the county’s Police Accountability Board, as well as the National Alliance on Mental Illness Howard County.

Some of the unique challenges facing District 5, he said, are commercial solar development and school overcrowding.