At 24, Karson Kamenetz is making his first run for Baltimore County Council. But to many voters, he’s already a familiar name.

“You’re another Kamenetz, huh?” asked 65-year-old Tami Berman as the Democrat knocked on doors in Pikesville one January afternoon.

“Must be Kevin’s son,” Henry Sheller, 37, said outside his home.

In his bid to represent the new District 4, a diverse swath of predominantly Black and Jewish suburbs surrounding Northwest Baltimore, Kamenetz is following in the footsteps of one of the county’s best-known recent politicians.

His father, Kevin Kamenetz, was a four-term Democratic councilman before serving as county executive from 2010 to 2018. While still in office and running for governor, he died at 59 of a heart attack.

The family name is a big reason Karson Kamenetz, the elder of Kevin’s two sons, has stood out among a crop of first-time council candidates. He has collected endorsements from current and former local politicians and has raised about $105,000 over the past year, according to a campaign finance report filed Tuesday.

Yet the last name also comes with a challenge: Voters are often quick to assume that Karson is Kevin — that, for better or worse, father and son are one and the same.

Kamenetz is seeking to strike a delicate balance between honoring his father’s path and forging one of his own.

“I carry that standard that he set,” he told a crowd of supporters at the Pikesville Armory late last year. “But I am not here to be him.”

A father’s influence

Born while his father was in his second term on the council, Kamenetz was raised in Baltimore County politics. From an early age, he attended political rallies and fundraisers, often with a campaign balloon tied to his stroller.

On days off from school, Kamenetz spent time at his father’s office, with staff members sometimes doubling as babysitters. He accompanied his father to swearing-ins and stood by his side when he announced his campaign for governor in 2017.

“Karson got a Ph.D. in government and politics from the age of 3,” said Don Mohler, a former county executive who served as the elder Kamenetz’s chief of staff. “You could just tell that he had an interest and curiosity about government as far back as a little boy.”

A 2019 Gilman School graduate, Kamenetz also played football and started a club that competed in national cybersecurity competitions. He initially planned to study computer science in college.

Then, in May 2018, when Kamenetz was 16, his father died of cardiac arrest, hours after returning home from a gubernatorial candidates forum in Prince George’s County.

As the family sat shiva for seven days, mourning and remembering Kevin Kamenetz in accordance with Jewish tradition, a stream of community members, elected officials and even political rivals stopped by, sharing stories of his impact on the county.

Those conversations prompted the teenager to rethink his career plans.

“It sort of clicked that he really gave everything he had for this county,” Kamenetz said in an interview. “And I realized, who am I to not do similarly? It was a calling.”

Kamenetz switched his major to government and politics soon after his freshman orientation at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2022, while still an undergraduate, he was elected to the Baltimore County Democratic State Central Committee, where he served for two years.

Last year, the second-year law student at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law announced a run for County Council in District 4, newly redrawn after county voters decided in 2024 to expand the council from seven to nine seats.

With the Feb. 24 filing deadline approaching, Kamenetz is the only candidate from either party who has officially entered the race. The district’s current representative, Councilman Izzy Patoka, is giving up his seat to run for county executive.

Kamenetz’s campaign has focused on affordability concerns, which he says he understands firsthand: Unable to buy a home, he currently lives with his grandparents in Pikesville.

Kamenetz also backs the revitalization of economic corridors like Reisterstown Road and Liberty Road and said he will bring a fresh perspective to county government.

If elected in November, Kamenetz could be the youngest person to ever serve on the council, pending the outcome of other races.

“I’m young,” Kamenetz said, “but I’m not new.”

Charting his own path

Those who knew both father and son see many similarities between the two — but also some clear differences.

Both are cerebral and driven. They share a strong command of policy, a relentless approach to campaigning and a belief in government as a tool to better people’s lives.

But Kevin Kamenetz was also known to be gruff, at times arrogant and dismissive of ideas he didn’t like. His son is seen as more willing to compromise and more receptive to advice.

“Even those of us who loved Kevin knew that Kevin could have some rough edges at times and not be the warmest of elected officials,” Mohler said. “Karson seems to have this blend of devotion to public service but is much more easygoing and much more open to others than perhaps his dad was.”

Patoka has not endorsed anyone in the race to succeed him, though he and the Kamenetz family have long overlapped. He and Kevin Kamenetz attended elementary school together, and the families belong to the same synagogue.

Patoka said Karson Kamenetz has been trying to win on his own merits, rather than his last name.

“Some people will run vanity campaigns and not really do the work, and Karson’s clearly doing the work,” Patoka said.

The schedule has been demanding. Kamenetz said he’s knocked on about 2,000 doors and paused his law studies to campaign full-time, with plans to resume this summer. He said the intensity of his campaign is meant to address any perceptions of nepotism and prove he’s serious about the job.

But it’s also led to difficult discussions with family members, who still remember the stress and exhaustion his father experienced during his runs for office.

Kamenetz said he thinks about the toll politics took on his father “all the time.” He said he’s undergone regular heart scans since his father died.

Jill Kamenetz, Kevin’s widow, said her son’s decision to enter politics worried her at first. “I once said to him, ‘Are you only doing this because you feel like you owe it to Dad to continue his legacy?’” she remembered.

Now, though, she sees her son’s campaign as a reflection of his own passions.

“He loves what he’s doing,” Jill Kamenetz said. “I feel like it’s in his blood.”

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Karson Kamenetz does not live with his girlfriend and to correct Kevin Kamenetz's age when he died.