On Tuesday, Baltimore County voters overwhelmingly agree expanding the County Council from seven members to nine, ending decades of debate over how large the council should be and how it could best represent an increasingly diverse county.

The change to the county charter amendment culminated what County Council President Izzy Patoka has long called a “historic moment” that he campaigned and worked tirelessly to achieve. Patoka routinely criticized a government body that he claimed was “stuck in 1956” in terms of its composition.

The advice is all men and almost all whitewith a black representative, Julian Jones, presiding over a district created about two decades ago to serve the county’s growing black community. Since the county established the council eight decades ago, Jones has been one of only two Black representatives, and both he and former Councilman Ken Oliver, who served from 2002 to 2014, come from the same district. The county has only had five female members, all white.

The two additional seats won’t be on the ballot until November 2026. Here’s what you need to know:

1. The Council has to organize the maps

Typically, when a legislative body redraws policy lines, the process takes years and involves multiple public hearings. Not so for the Baltimore County Council. Members and their staff drew the maps among themselves, dividing the county’s more than 850,000 residents into nine districts containing about 95,000 each, as opposed to the current 122,000 per district. Patoka dedicated himself to what he called “shuttle diplomacy” to maintain the bipartisan balance of the council, which now has four Democrats and three Republicans, and will likely have a 5-4 split under the new maps.

Councilman Wade Kach, Republican, added an amendment to the map. Many Democratic legislators and two Democratic council members he complained about the resulting maps and the process of creating them. But Patoka has repeatedly said that without Republican support, the bill would not have passed and that he could not gain their support without maps that preserved his representation. the maps remained.

“Baltimore County voters not only supported a historic change on the council, but also redistricting reform,” said Republican Councilman David Marks, who represents Perry Hall. “This validates our bipartisan bill and repudiates the partisan activists and state legislators who attacked us all summer.”

Marks said he wouldn’t seek those public hearings anytime soon. The council’s current priority is to appoint a interim county executive before Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat who has held the seat since 2018, addresses Congress in January.

2. Public financing available

In his first month in office, Olszewski established a public financing system that county elections attract more diverse candidates. It’s not yet clear how much will be available, but the publicly funded system is expected to be up and running in 2026, when the two new seats will be on the ballot.

“In 2026, there will be a perfect storm of opportunity for people of color and women to win elected office in Baltimore County,” Patoka said. “With the expansion and public financing in place, the County Council can better reflect the demographics of Baltimore County.”

3. There will be more than 2 seats at stake

In addition to the two additional seats, interested council candidates may have other opportunities. Patoka and Jones have indicated they plan to run for county executive in 2026. Kach will retire. Pat Young, a Democrat who represents Catonsville, has said he is also interested in running for the county’s top office.

4. Make room for 2 new council members.

county officials calculated that two new council members would increase operating costs by approximately $1.4 million. Renovating the council office to accommodate new council members will cost $12 million over four years based on a construction rate of $7,000 per square foot. There may be additional costs, but the council’s operations remain a fraction of a percent of the county’s $2.7 billion general fund budget.

5. Diverse candidates won’t necessarily run or win

Several of the white council members now serving ran against a woman or a black candidate in their primary or general election, and still won. Whether women or members of the county’s growing Hispanic, Indian or Black communities decide to run will depend on many factors.

Kathleen Beadell, a well-known real estate agent, planned to run for Kach’s seat representing the northern district; she refused when Del. Nino Mangione announced that he would search the position. Shafiyq Hinton, a Middle River community activist who narrowly lost to Democratic Councilman Mike Ertel to represent the Towson district, said he was disheartened that the council’s proposed expansion was approved with what he considered flawed maps. Once voters see the final map, he predicted, they will be “bewildered.”

He currently does not plan to run again, unless the map changes. “You have no interest in running a race that you know you are very likely to use.”