The District of Columbia and Prince George's County choose leaders for the next four years

AS THIS EDITORIAL was written, it was not yet certain who would be leading the District of Columbia or Prince George's County in the four years to come, though partial returns suggested fresh leadership for both: Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray in Washington and former legislator Rushern L. Baker III in Prince George's. What was certain, though, were some of the challenges the next leaders will face, some a product of history and the economy, others a result of the election campaigns themselves.

In the District, there will be growing demands on potentially dwindling resources. The cushion of a budget surplus is gone, depleted by mutual consent of the current mayor and D.C. Council. Federal spending helped insulate the District from the worst of the recession, but the local economy may not rebound enough quickly enough to drive revenue growth anytime soon. In the meantime, the need for city services will not diminish: for schools, for health care, for employment training. Campaign promises may lead District voters to expect generous support for the University of the District of Columbia and its community college, for pre-K education and charter schools, for parks and recreation centers. Meeting those expectations won't be easy.

Adding to the difficulty will be the racial and class divisions that reemerged during this year's mayoral campaign. Four years ago, when Adrian M. Fenty swept every precinct in the city, the unity of the electorate was almost more startling than the triumph of a young upstart politician. This year all the old divisions seemed to reemerge, at least according to pre-electoral polls. School reform, high-ranking appointments, even bicycle lanes and park refurbishment -- all of these were seen by many through the lens of race and anxiety over gentrification and demographic change. The new leadership will have to work extra hard to balance a legitimate desire to make the city attractive to newcomers of all races with the equally legitimate need to show respect for longtime residents who may be unable to afford rising property tax rates.

Prince George's County has had its own racial and class divisions over the years, of course, but in this election most voters, of both races, seemed focused on something else: how to help the county at long last live up to its potential. The county has been a mecca for middle-class and upwardly mobile African Americans; it boasts a Triple-A bond rating, a promising new development on the river and a raft of high-tech federal employers; it has managed, so far, to hold on to swaths of beautiful countryside.

But in many ways it remains a disappointment to residents: in its underachieving schools, though an energetic superintendent is working hard to turn them around; in the failure to spark development around Metro stations and attract more high-end shopping and restaurant destinations; in the continuing poverty and crime of too many neighborhoods. And underlying all of these is a political culture that has been too focused on rewarding the officeholders and too little on serving the voters. If the next crop of leaders could begin to change that culture, many of the county's other problems would turn out to be less intractable as well.