Courtney Watson Announces She is Considering County Executive’s Seat

During a fundraiser she hosted on Thursday, Councilwoman Courtney Watson (D-Ellicott City/Elkridge) shared a vision of Howard County’s future that could include her as the next county executive.

“I said we have to consider the future—that my belief was that Ken [Ulman] would be moving on to the statewide stage and this would be positive for Howard County,” wrote Watson in an e-mail to Elkridge Patch.

County Executive Ken Ulman's  that he was undecided about his future plans.

“He has not made any decisions on what might happen in three years,” said Kevin Enright, spokesman for the county executive’s office, on Oct. 13.

Radio station WTOP said that Ulman alluded to his future run for governor during an interview in May. 

Regardless, Watson said she was speaking of ideas at her Oct. 26 fundraiser in Ellicott City, not necessarily the titles attached to them.

“I talked about the values I hold as important when representing the people—respect, engagement and collaboration—[and] how I was strongly considering running for county executive,” said Watson. 

Specifically, she said she was cultivating relationships within the county's business community.

Others at her Oktoberfest fundraising event, held at Serafino’s in Ellicott City, said the message was more concrete.

“Councilwoman Courtney Watson made it clear that she will be running for county executive in 2014,” wrote Dennis Lane on his blog, Tales of Two Cities, which covers Ellicott City and Columbia, on Thursday morning.

Watson disagreed with that interpretation.

“I specifically said this is NOT a formal announcement,” she told Patch. “If anything, it was an announcement that I am considering it.”