Texas County Storytellers

When J.D. Clark was elected Wise County Judge in 2014, he was already a seasoned public servant. He had been elected to the Chico City Council eight years earlier — at just 20 — followed by five years as mayor of his hometown. On July 14, Clark reached a new milestone: He took office as president of the National Association of Counties (NACo), representing more than 3,000 counties, parishes and boroughs nationwide.

“It’s a peak,” he said. “To be somebody who loves county government and gets the opportunity to head up the county government organization for the whole country, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for my county and for Texas counties.”

From observer to decision-maker

Clark’s journey into public service began unexpectedly in high school when he landed a summer job with his local newspaper. His assignment? Cover city council, school board and commissioners court meetings. That beat, which continued through his college years at the University of North Texas in Denton, introduced him to the nuts and bolts of local government. He was hooked.

“I really fell in love with local government,” he said during an interview in his office in Decatur. “These people were making decisions here that would impact us today, tomorrow, next week. The water we drank, the streets we’re driving on, the schools that kids are going to.”

That early exposure drew the budding reporter toward elected office and, after college graduation, the classroom. He taught junior high English and high school history, along with electives such as journalism and theater arts.

“In a small school, you get to do a little bit of everything,” he said. Teaching was good preparation for government leadership. “Walking into a classroom, you’ve got to get this particular content out to a vastly different group of people, with different learning styles, different backgrounds, different situations at home,” he said. “It makes you be aware of your message, your tone, how it means different things to different people.”

Rising through the NACo ranks

When Clark became county judge, he noticed that Wise County had been paying NACo dues year after year but hadn’t participated all that much in the organization. Curious, he attended NACo’s legislative conference in 2015 and quickly realized Wise County was “leaving a lot of opportunities and resources on the table.”

That realization led him to NACo’s Rural Action Caucus and eventually to national leadership. In 2020, he co-chaired NACo’s Broadband Task Force, focused on learning how counties could help bring reliable and affordable high-speed internet to their constituents. In 2023, he was elected second vice president. His election put him on the path to his current role, which he assumed in July during NACo’s annual conference in Philadelphia.

Each NACo president introduces a spotlight initiative. Clark’s is “County Storytellers,” which encourages county officials to share their accomplishments and experiences as vivid narratives. Every county, large or small, booming or financially strapped, has a story, Clark said, and those stories deserve to be told.

“Data makes us credible, but stories make us memorable,” he said, quoting a favorite saying of NACo Executive Director and CEO Matt Chase.

Clark insists storytelling in government is a practical strategy, especially in an era when trust is low and attention spans are short. If counties don’t tell their own stories, he said, somebody else will, and it may not be the truth.

Rooted in Wise County

Clark’s national involvement hasn’t distracted from his local focus. Wise County, on the northwestern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is facing intense growth. Clark is committed to helping shape that growth so the county’s character doesn’t get lost in the approaching sprawl.

“This isn’t just a place on the map where I happened to end up,” he said. “This is generationally home to me.”

He has fostered collaboration among cities and school districts to address the county’s challenges. Given that counties have limited authority over land use, Clark emphasizes communication with residents and developers. His motto — “Honoring the past, building the future” — is more than a tagline printed on his letterhead. It guides his governing philosophy, embodied in his “legacy project,” the full restoration of Wise County’s historic and iconic 1896 Romanesque Revival courthouse.

Clark and his wife, Leah, have three young daughters. His motivation as a public servant, he said, begins and ends with his girls. “They’re my why for why I’m doing this,” he said.

A storyteller at heart

Outside the courthouse, Clark channels his creative side as a singer songwriter. Last year, he released three original songs under his full first name, Judson Clark. For him, music and government share a thread.

“Songwriting is storytelling,” he said. In music, like in government, you have only a few minutes to connect, to be remembered.

As the interview winds down, he lights up at a question asked half in jest. Has he considered creating a NACo president’s playlist?

“That’s actually a cool idea to help highlight this storytelling theme that we’re doing,” he said, grinning. “I’m going to have to explore that.”

Because whether it’s a ballad or a budget, Clark believes stories are what move people. Telling stories is how you turn policy into something personally meaningful and remind people why counties matter.

Listen to the latest episode of Texas County Voice to learn more about J.D. Clark and his mission as the new NACo president.