Jessica Fitzwater

County Executive

Jessica Fitzwater, County Executive, was sworn in on December 5, 2022. Ms. Fitzwater was born and raised in Smithsburg, Maryland, and has been residing in Frederick County for 17 years. A member of the first-ever Frederick County Council, she represented Council District 4 for two terms before being elected County Executive. As a Council Member, she championed numerous pieces of legislation that were enacted on a bipartisan basis, including: repealing the County’s English-only Ordinance, improving affordable workforce housing by strengthening the Housing Initiative Fund, creating a Human Trafficking Task Force, addressing anti-discrimination, and establishing a Climate Emergency Mobilization Work Group. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and a Master of Science in educational leadership from Hood College. Ms. Fitzwater is also a graduate of Emerge Maryland, a prestigious political leadership program for Democratic women. Prior to being elected County Executive, she was a music teacher with Frederick County Public Schools at Oakdale Elementary for over 16 years, where she also directed an extracurricular chorus. In 2012 Ms. Fitzwater was named one of The Frederick News-Post’s 13 Young Professionals Under 30, in 2014 she was named the National Education Association’s (NEA) Political Activist of the Year, she was named one of the MD Daily Record’s Leading Women in 2015 and is one of the MD Daily Record’s Top 100 Women of 2023. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Frederick County Teachers Association, the Frederick Symphony Orchestra, and the Frederick Arts Council.