Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA)— Dozens of officials from some of America’s key counties gathered at the Hoover Institution December 8–9, 2025, to discuss challenges facing US municipalities in a rapidly changing world.
County leaders and their senior staff members from across America gathered to hear from an impressive selection of Hoover experts on topics including relations with China, the rise of generative AI, election administration challenges, US foreign relations, and the future anticipated strain on public employee pension funds.
Representatives hailed from Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, among other states.
This State and Local Leadership Forum, hosted by the Hoover State and Local Governance Initiative in collaboration with the National Association of Counties, provided an opportunity to disseminate Hoover scholarship to policymakers at the county level.
Welcoming state officials was Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice, who spoke about Hoover’s priorities, including revitalizing American institutions, helping policymakers navigate the challenges of advanced economies, and preparing American leaders for the nature of the new global order taking shape.
US county leaders listen to Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice in Annenberg Conference Room on December 8, 2025. (Patrick Beaudouin)
Codirector of Hoover’s US, China, and the World program, Distinguished Research Fellow Glenn Tiffert, spoke to attendees about China’s foreign policy goals and Hoover’s efforts to enhance resilience to foreign interference among government officials at the state and local levels.
To illustrate an issue of rising concern for some US counties, the director of the Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, Hargrove Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider, and Program Manager Jacob Ganz led attendees through a simulated tabletop exercise concerning data center expansion and a future power supply crisis.
Fellows Norbert Holtkamp, Max Lamparth and Herbert Lin, along with research assistant Emerson Johnston, spoke about tech-related issues facing local governments. Lin also circulated the annual Stanford Emerging Technology Review and shared recent updates from Hoover’s Technology Policy Accelerator.
Moving to a matter often handled locally, Distinguished Visiting Fellow Benjamin Ginsberg shared insights on increasing public confidence in elections. He stressed that the most successful measures to restore trust are developed and deployed at the local level.
Looking abroad, Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster spoke to attendees about the threat posed by the axis of aggressors made up of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
On the domestic front, Senior Fellow Sarah F. Anzia spoke to participants about the challenges facing state and local employee pension funds.
Demonstrating ways the Hoover Institution can help community leaders develop research-driven solutions to local policy challenges, fellows Michael Farren, Patrick A. McLaughlin, and Valentin Bolotnyy from the State and Local Governance Initiative shared how they partner with local municipalities to collect data and formulate policy solutions to challenges in areas including criminal justice, taxation and economic development.
Finally, Davies Family Distinguished Fellow Gen. Jim Mattis spoke to attendees about attributes of leadership, imparting wisdom from his forty-plus-year career in the Marines.
