For more than 20 years, Kevin Kamenetz was a force in Baltimore County politics, first as a county councilman then as county executive. Kamenetz was already on the council when his son Karson, who is 23, was born.
“That leadership is something I know how to do because I’ve been surrounded by it my whole life,” Kamenetz said. “The ethos of my family was you are a servant.”
Kamenetz, a Democrat, plans to run in the County Council’s second district if the current councilman, Izzy Patoka, decides to run for county executive in 2026 as expected.
It’s the same district seat his father held for 16 years before becoming county executive in 2010.
Former County Executive Don Mohler, who was Kamenetz’s chief of staff and replaced him after he died in office in 2018, said for 20 years Karson got a graduate class from his father every night at the dinner table on running the county government.
“It’s a young man that’s had a special training ground for preparing to be a county council member,” Mohler said.
If elected in 2026, Kamenetz would be 25 years old when he joins the County Council. He would be the youngest person ever elected to that body. On the current council the youngest member is Pat Young, who is 41.
Kamenetz said he would bring a fresh perspective to help solve old problems.
“If experience always translated to good leadership, there still wouldn’t be potholes on roads older than I am,” Kamenetz said.
Kamenetz, who lives in Pikesville, was elected to the Baltimore County Democratic State Central Committee in 2022 and served for two years.
He was snarled by the County Council’s closed door redrawing last year of a nine-district map to reflect the two-seat expansion of the council approved by the voters in November.
He was drawn out of the second district so Kamenetz moved back in.
“The map that they proposed shut out quite a portion of North Pikesville,” Kamenetz said. “Having represented that community in the central committee and having been a part of that community my whole life, I found it imperative that if I’m to serve the people I have already served, I need to ensure that I am in the district able to do that.”
That council district map could change. After the County Council was criticized for how it privately drew the map, a commission was formed to study how to redraw the lines for nine council seats. It will make a recommendation to the council in a few months.
When asked about Kamenetz’s candidacy Patoka said in a text, “It’s difficult to comment at this time because the district boundaries are likely to change. So the geography is an unknown variable.”
Kamenetz, who is a first year student at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law, has a couple of built in advantages as he plots his run for the County Council.
Besides name recognition, he also expects to be able to raise the money he needs to run a credible campaign.
“If I am to play the game and be the sausage maker, I’m required to play by the rules of that game,” Kamenetz said. “If that means raising money to have a competitive campaign, that’s what I’ll do.”
Mohler said like any candidate, Kamenetz can take nothing for granted.
“No one is going to give you a seat,” Mohler said. “No one is going to anoint you the next councilman because of your name.”
