Bounty of sheriff’s candidates face off locally

How they fare may depend on how their campaigns adjust in pandemic, experts say.

A slew of races for sheriff across the metro Atlanta area will bring new faces to the office next year and some that may be familiar.

Dozens of hopefuls are on June 9 ballot in contested races in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb and Fayette counties, including battles for open seats in Gwinnett and Henry whose incumbent sheriffs declined to run again.

How well the candidates fare may depend on the adjustments they made after the coronavirus pandemic shut down traditional campaigning in March, political experts say.

“There are no parades, no rallies and very little person-to-person contact in the age of coronavirus,” said Harvey Newman, professor emeritus from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. “It’s a change from the retail politics that we’ve known for so long.”

That comes as on-theground campaigning may be more important than ever in some cases because of demographic changes. Gwinnett and Henry counties are more Democratic than in the past, and Cobb, a traditionally Republican stronghold, voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, which could portend a tougher reelection bid for incumbent Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren, who faces Democrats Gregory Gilstrap, James Herndon and Craig Owens.

“It really could affect longterm policy on policing and how the sheriff ’s department operates and how it interacts with the public,” Joshua Meddaugh, an associate professor of political science at Clayton State University, said of the demographic changes.

But there is power in incumbency, especially in a crowded field where name recognition can help distinguish a candidate from the pack, the experts said.

Incumbent Fulton Sheriff Ted Jackson, for instance, may be more recognizable than the fellow Democrats he faces for the post, with the exception of former Atlanta Department of Corrections chief Patrick Labat. His other competitors are Democrats Charles Rambo, Myron Freeman and Walter Calloway.

In DeKalb, incumbent Democrat Sheriff Melody Maddox has seven Democratic opponents for her post, which she attained last November after former DeKalb Sheriff Jeffrey Mann resigned amid uncertainty over his law enforcement certification. Her opponents include Geraldine Champion, Adam Gardner, Ted Golden, Antonio Johnson, Kyle Jones, Carl Mobley and Ruth Stringer. Candidate Harold Dennis is the only Republican in the race and will advance to the general election in the fall.

Republican incumbent Fayette Sheriff Barry Babb, who has held the position since 2013, faces Chris Pigors, a major with the Grantville Police Department in Coweta County and a former captain with the Clayton County Sheriff ’s Office.

The impact of the coronavirus shutdown may be most impactful in crowded races where there is no incumbent and candidates have had to scramble to have their voices heard, the experts said. That has led many to rely on mailers, social media and the small number of online forums and debates that have been held to campaign.

“To get your message out, you have to go door to door,” said former Henry County Democratic Party Chairman Herman “Chip” Hammonds. “You can’t just sit behind a computer. You only have so many Facebook friends.”

In Henry and Gwinnett, that has meant even higher hurdles for those running for sheriff. In both counties, the candidates are replacing longtime sheriffs who are retiring, Butch Conway in Gwinnett and Keith McBrayer in Henry.

Seeking to replace Conway in fast-changing Gwinnett are Republicans Luis Solis and Keith Van Nus and Democrats Curtis Clemons, Ben Haynes, Floyd Scott and Keybo Taylor.

They face voters who want to know how they would address releasing low-risk inmates from the county jail to stem the threat of COVID19 among inmates and their views on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s controversial 287(g) program. That program, which was supported by Conway, allows Gwinnett sheriff ’s deputies to hold foreign-born arrestees who are charged with committing local crimes to be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation.

In Henry County, the candidates to replace McBrayer are Democrats Eric Wilson, Reginald Scandrett, Tony Brown, Marion Calhoun, Curtis Farmer, Gazzara Hill and Brian McGee. The Republican candidates in the race are Willie

Brown, Kenneth Lee and Jack Redlinger.

The winner will serve a once a rural community that has the second-fastest growth rate in metro Atlanta and whose demographics have changed from mostly white in the 1980s to a majority-minority split in recent years. That has shifted the political landscape to more Democrats taking office, including on the Board of Commissioners and the District Attorney’s Office.

Steven Brown, a former Fayette County commissioner and mayor of Peachtree City mayor, said the sheriff ’s office campaigns, like all others, will have to be at the top of their social media games to succeed in this pandemic era. During his initial run for mayor in the late 1990s, the internet was in its infancy, and creating websites to promote your campaign was a novelty. But with traditional campaigning scrapped, social media are the best way to reach voters.

“This is the year that you absolutely need the internet,” he said.