Dallas sheriff wins re-election over former boss – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

With a runoff victory Tuesday night, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown will retain her position.

Brown faced his predecessor in the runoff, former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez. Valdez recommended Brown for the job when she left the office to run for governor in 2018, but said she decided to run for sheriff against her former colleague after he claimed the morale of the department had collapsed and she had been asked to run by deputies.

Brown countered during her re-election campaign, arguing that she had spent more time serving underserved areas of the county that had been ignored under her predecessor.

The sheriff oversees more than two thousand employees in the county and runs the Dallas County Jail. Valdez had also criticized the way the prison was run following a series of failed inspections after a decade of passing grades.

Still, voters sided with Brown who defeated Valdez by nearly 40 points on Tuesday, receiving 68.61 percent of the vote to Valdez's 31.39 percent. With no Republican challenger on the ballot in November, victory in the primary means Brown will win in November unopposed.

Valdez released a statement Tuesday evening, saying the race isn't just about the candidates.

“This race was never about us, this race was about highlighting the many problems with the Dallas County Sheriff's Department and shedding light on a failing department. Our campaign was honored to be able to attract attention on the many issues affecting deputies: the morale and safety of our inmates and the citizens of Dallas County. We hope our campaign will shed light on these issues and lead to an improved Sheriff's Department,” said. the Valdez campaign.

Voter turnout in the second round is historically low. Dallas County Elections reported turnout Tuesday was 2.14%, meaning about 31,000 of the county's 1.4 million registered voters came out in favor of this election.