Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore named President of National Association of Counties

Sonoma County District 4 Supervisor James Gore this week was named president of the National Association of Counties, an advocacy organization founded in 1935 to represent the priorities of county governments in the United States. Supervisor Gore was sworn in on July 15 during the association’s Annual Business Meeting in Hillsborough County, Fla., after receiving broad, bipartisan support from elected leaders representing 3,069 rural, urban and suburban counties nationwide. In his role as president, Supervisor Gore will serve for a year, leading the NACo executive committee in oversight of the association. 

“With all the divisiveness in our state and national political arenas, it falls on us at the local level to bring ground truth to the table and forge progress,” said Supervisor Gore. “I’m honored to serve and look forward to continuing to innovate, collaborate and tackle head-on the most difficult issues faced by my constituents in Sonoma County and counties across our nation.”

Supervisor Gore also serves as chair of NACo’s Programs and Services Committee, serves on the executive committee for the Latino Caucus of California Counties, and is co-chair of the North Coast Resource Partnership, a consortium of seven counties and 30 tribes. In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Gore to the executive committee for the California State Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Task Force.

“We appreciate Supervisor Gore’s work on behalf of Sonoma County and local governments across the United States,” said Supervisor David Rabbitt, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “His expanded leadership at the national level can provide insight to our work and best practices from around the country on issues like emergency preparedness, infrastructure, housing, homelessness and behavioral health.” 

Gore was born and raised in the 4th District, which stretches from northern Santa Rosa, northeast to Fulton and north to Healdsburg and Cloverdale. He was first elected to serve on the Board of Supervisors in 2014. In addition to his work with NACo, Supervisor Gore is past president of the California State Association of Counties and a former member of Resilient America Roundtable for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Excerpts from Supervisor Gore’s acceptance remarks are available here:
https://www.naco.org/news/sonoma-countys-james-gore-takes-lead-naco

Next year will mark the 90th anniversary of NACo’s formation. The only other Sonoma County official to be appointed President of NACo is former Supervisor Valerie Brown, who served in 2009-10.

More information about the National Association of Counties is available at: https://www.naco.org/.

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Media Contact:
Dan Virkstis, communications specialist
publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org 
(707) 565-3040