7 Republicans vying to fill Baltimore County Council opening for northern district

A former councilman, a current council candidate and a former chief of staff are among the seven candidates who want to replace Wade Kach, a Republican who unexpectedly resigned from his District 3 seat on the Baltimore County Council this month.

The Baltimore County Republican Central Committee will choose one of the candidates after an interview process from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the Holiday Inn Timonium. The public is invited to testify. The committee will vote after hearing from the candidates.

Eligible candidates have to have lived in the current Third District for at least two years. (The boundaries of the district are changing because the council is expanding from seven members to nine.) They can’t work for the county or the state, and they were required to send a résumé and a letter of interest by May 23.

Kach, whose resignation was effective May 7, has not endorsed a candidate but said he hopes whoever replaces him will try to build consensus on one of the district’s biggest issues: Lutherville Station and the plans there to put hundreds of apartments on part of the site of a largely empty shopping mall next to a light rail stop.

The district’s other large priority is protecting the northern tier of the county from development. Kach held the Urban-Rural Demarcation Line sacrosanct. The boundary locks up two-thirds of the county’s available land and clusters development in the bottom third.

Kach rebuffed many attempts from developers to cut into the demarcation line. That increases development pressure on Towson, Catonsville, Perry Hall and other communities as the county faces a housing shortage.

Among the candidates are two who have been deeply involved with Lutherville Station. Eric Rockel, past president and a longtime board member of the Lutherville Community Association, has been representing the community on the project. Rockel also served as Kach’s representative on the 2025 Baltimore County Councilmanic Redistricting Commission, which he ended up chairing, as well as the group that recommended expanding the council.

Catherine Lynne Jones most recently served as Kach’s chief of staff and said that, if appointed to the seat, she would continue Kach’s work on Lutherville Station. The councilman has spent years working through a developer’s plan for hundreds of apartments at the station. He downzoned the property and declared the intersection too congested, which contradicted county planners’ recommendation.

Gov. Wes Moore and his housing secretary, Jake Day, have complained that local officials are strangling the state’s efforts to build more housing, which they say it desperately needs — especially near transit and specifically in Baltimore County.

“I intend to hold the line against high-density development and prevent Governor Wes Moore’s takeover of local zoning authority,” Jones said in her application.

Also running is Del. Nino Mangione Jr., a candidate for the seat in the Republican primary next month. Mangione previously told The Banner that Lutherville Station’s development has taken “far too long and should have been resolved years ago.”

Mangione, who is from an influential real estate family, favors no more than 325 apartments at Lutherville Station and says he plans to work with the community to build consensus.

Former County Councilman Todd Huff said he’d like the seat back, albeit temporarily. Huff, who is vice president of his family’s tire business, served one term, from 2010-14, before losing to Kach.

In February 2013, Baltimore County Police arrested Huff for allegedly driving under the influence in his county-owned vehicle. A breathalyzer test showed his blood alcohol level at twice the legal limit. According to news reports at the time, Huff attempted to use his political position to dissuade the officers from arresting him. He called the police chief at home and left a message saying he’d had “a couple of drinks.”

Huff pleaded guilty to the DUI charge in March 2013 and received probation before judgment, according to court records.

Towson attorney Tim Braue, Reisterstown attorney Gerard Wm. “Rod” Wittstadt Jr., and healthcare executive EJ McNulty round out the list.

Kach is a moderate Republican and frequently voted with council Democrats on issues concerning education, housing and land preservation. Mangione, a conservative Republican who has served in the state legislature, introduced bills banning gender-affirming care and banning what he considers sexually explicit books from school libraries. Neither passed.

In his cover letter for the position, Wittstadt indicated he would be a stalwart for Republican ideas and lead the county with “conservative, pro-business” representation.

“I am not afraid to stand up to Democrats. I will meet them anytime and any place with the RIGHT ideas,” he wrote.

Three candidates who wanted to run were disqualified, one for not submitting the paperwork and two because they do not live in the district.

Gunpowder Riverkeeper Theaux Le Gardeur is running against Mangione in the Republican primary next month. He didn’t apply to fill in for Kach because he does not live in the current District 3.

Kach, who said he resigned because of health problems, often missed council meetings. But he may be eligible to double his pension because of the timing of his resignation.

The council passed a law rescinding a 2024 measure that would allow current council members to retire at significantly higher rates. Because that repeal didn’t take effect for 45 days, Kach’s resignation fell into the window when the pension increase is possible.

The council introduced emergency legislation to backdate the repeal’s effective date to outside Kach’s retirement window. It’s unclear whether he’ll be eligible for the pension bump.