Wicomico County ( ) is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,588. The county seat is Salisbury. The county was named for the Wicomico River, which in turn derives its name from the Algonquian language words , meaning "a place where houses are built," apparently referring to a Native American town on the banks. The county is included in the Salisbury, MD-DE Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Wicomico County was created from Somerset and Worcester counties in 1867.
Politics and government
Wicomico County was granted a charter form of government in 1964.
In the period after the Reconstruction era, Wicomico County became solidly Democratic due to its strong support for secession and state efforts to disenfranchise most blacks by raising barriers to voter registration. Independent insurgent white groups worked to intimidate and discourage black voters, especially in rural areas.
Maryland was a one-party state, like others in the South, until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s to protect the right to vote. No Republican carried Wicomico County until 1928, when Herbert Hoover won due to anti-Catholic sentiment in the heavily Protestant county against Democratic candidate Al Smith. The popular general Dwight D. Eisenhower carried Wicomico in 1952. Eisenhower would again carry Wicomico in 1956, and Republican Richard Nixon would win it in 1960 against John F. Kennedy who, like Al Smith, was Catholic.
No Democratic presidential nominee has won Wicomico County since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide in 1964, as white conservatives increasingly moved into the Republican Party. Bill Clinton, a son of the South, came within 384 votes of beating Bob Dole in 1996. Barack Obama attracted a much higher proportion of the county vote in 2008 and 2012, likely among younger people, the educated, and other minorities. In 2020, Joe Biden came extremely close to winning the county, with Donald Trump only edging him out by 890 votes. Biden obtained 47.7% of the county's vote, the highest percentage for any Democrat since 1964. Trump also won less than 50% of the vote, the first time a Republican had been held below a majority of the vote in Wicomico County since 1996.
|}
Wicomico County's government, since 2006, uses a council-elected executive system where the voters elect members of the County Council and Executive. Prior to 2006, the county operated under a council-administrator system where voters elected council members who in turn appointed an administrator to oversee the government.
County council
The legislative functions of government are vested in the County Council. The County Council consists of seven members, five of whom are elected from single-member districts; the other two are elected at-large.
County executive
The County Executive oversees the executive branch of the County government, which consists of a number of offices and departments. The executive branch is charged with implementing County law and overseeing the operation of County Government. The position of County Executive was established by a modification of the county's Charter in 2006. Day-to-day functions of the executive branch fall to the appointed Director of Administration, who also serves as the Acting County Executive during vacancies in the office of the County Executive. Upon the death of Robert L. "Bob" Culver Jr., on July 26, 2020, the Wicomico County Council appointed then-Director of Administration John D. Psota to that role in an acting capacity until the 2022 election cycle for the county executive seat.
Sheriff
Law enforcement in the county is provided by the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff, Mike Lewis, a Republican, is an elected official. Municipal police agencies exist in the towns of Delmar and Pittsville, along with the cities of Fruitland and Salisbury.
State's attorney
The Wicomico County State's Attorney is responsible for prosecuting the felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile cases occurring in the county. The current elected State's Attorney is Jamie Dykes.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (6.4%) is water.