Incumbent Bill Brown prevailed over two of his senior staff members Tuesday night and was re-elected to his fourth term as sheriff-coroner of Santa Barbara County.
With all precincts reporting, Brown had 54 percent of the vote, thereby avoiding a November runoff, according to the Santa Barbara County Elections Office.
Lt. Brian Olmstead had 31.6 percent of the vote and Lt. Eddie Hsueh had 14.2 percent, according to semi-official Tuesday night results.
If Brown had not exceeded 50 percent of the vote, he would have faced a runoff against the next highest vote-getter.
Brown has been Sheriff-Coroner of Santa Barbara County for 11 years and faced challenges from two lieutenants who contend that mandatory overtime at the County Jail, low staff morale, and an inability to recruit and retain public safety personnel are reasons the county needs a new top cop.
“It’s wonderful,” Brown said of the outcome. “I am very pleased. I’m humbled by the support I’ve received. I look forward to four more years.”
Midway through the tally, Olmstead was not ready to concede defeat.
“Brown has 55 percent, but that will come down,” Olmstead said. “We’re just waiting to see updated results. A lot of my support is from North County.”
However, the final count showed Brown with a solid margin of victory.
Votes % Bill Brown 28,405 54.0 Brian Olmstead 16,626 31.6 Eddie Hsueh 7,465 14.2
Hsueh told Noozhawk he was very proud of the campaign he ran.
“We did an amazing job with the amount of money we had,” Hsueh said. “We ran a clean campaign. I don’t have any regrets.”
Hsueh said he looks forward to returning to work, although he plans to retire in 2020.
The candidates expressed mild criticism of Brown’s decisions surrounding the controversial evacuation and repopulation orders for the Thomas Fire and the Montecito flash flooding and debris flows, which killed 23 people — 19 of them in the voluntary evacuation zone below East Valley Road.
This issue, however, took a back seat during the campaign, to criticisms about employee morale and mandatory overtime.
Since 2007, the Sheriff’s Department has lost 90.5 general fund positions.
Brown said he wasn’t bothered by two of his lieutenants taking him on.
“I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to run for sheriff,” Brown said.
“This office doesn’t belong to me,” he said. “Yes, it’s a little bit awkward to have people you have promoted challenge you, but they do good work. I certainly am not going to drive anyone out. They are my colleagues. They are good men.”
Brown raised $246,000, more than twice as much as Olmstead’s $118,000, according to the Santa Barbara County Elections Office. Hsueh raised $8,500 as of June 1.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
