By Staff
Published: Jun. 16, 2024 at 10:41 AM EDT|Updated: Jun. 21, 2024 at 3:29 PM EDT
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Independent candidate Richard Dixon suspended his campaign for Richmond County sheriff on Friday afternoon, days after Eugene Brantley unseated incumbent Sheriff Richard Roundtree in the Democratic primary.
With no Republican candidates, that means Brantley will run unopposed in the November election.
So it looks like Brantley will become sheriff after Roundtree held the office for 12 years.
“It’s really good to be on this side of it,” Brantley said after Tuesday’s primary runoff against Roundtree.
“We had a lot of obstacles to overcome,” he said.
With all precincts reporting, Brantley held the lead in the runoff with 52.77% of the vote, while Roundtree had 47.23% votes.
MORE | Charles Lyons wins Superior Court Judge seat in runoff elections
A judicial seat was made available after Judge Daniel Craig announced his retirement. Charles Lyons won the seat with 65% of votes, while Matt Matson had 35% of votes.
The biggest obstacle for Brantley was beating the incumbent.
”Once you go against an incumbent, of course there’s name recognition. You have people who like to vote a certain way. Just trying to get people to think differently, to not be afraid of change, and to take a chance and give someone else another opportunity to see what they have to offer,” said Brantley.
The sheriff’s race was the highest-profile one on the ballot locally – and the events of the past couple of weeks may only have helped Brantley.
Two weekends ago, a shooting terrified downtown, led the mayor to ask for help from state law enforcement and put Roundtree on the defensive against business owners who complained at a news conference about safety concerns.
On the heels of that tense weekend, Augusta saw two homicides and a suspicious death this past weekend. Those victims are among more than 150 who’ve lost their lives in the past two years as an outbreak of violent crime grips communities large and small across the CSRA.
Brantley says one of his top priorities is a comprehensive audit.
“The first thing was a comprehensive audit to look at where we are, financially, where we are staffing wise, and basically just how we could move a little more efficiently to help fight crime and do things that are conducive to producing a safer Augusta,” said Brantley. “I think it’s important that we understand what that looks like, how many deputies we actually have, in different places, working in the jail working on rope patrol, administratively, where we are, and just how we could if we need to move some people around and make sure we’re getting the most out of the resources that we have.”
Before bowing out, Dixon had still been working on collecting enough signatures to appear on the ballot. He had until July 9 but said Friday afternoon he’d suspend his campaign.
Brantley says his victory shows that people want change.
“I think it’s still reflected that we need change and we want a safe Augusta,” he said after winning the runoff. “So, you know, I was just encouraging people to get back to the polls, get out and vote, and make sure that their voice was heard. And that’s all we did. Get out and encourage people to get back to the polls.”
It’s been a long road, and he said he has his supporters to thank.
“Every morning, we were standing on corners for like eight weeks now. Every morning after we tood on corners, we got out, we canvassed neighborhoods,” he said. “Then in the evening we canvassed some more. We did that for like eight weeks straight. I mean, nonstop. And, you know, going to the candlelight vigils every Sunday. ... I went to church for four different churches on one Sunday. So it was just go, go, go, go, go.”
And when people told him he couldn’t win, that just motivated him more.
“For my supporters. I’d just like to say thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said.
“I just want to thank the supporters and thank everyone who went to the polls and voted. It says a lot more than thank them for trusting me with the next four years of law enforcement here.”
Going forward, he wants to see more community policing from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
“We went away from working beats, where the deputies are more engaged in the community. If you’re able to see, feel talk to, that engages with people and allows them to have a certain amount of trust within law enforcement,” he said ahead of the vote.
That idea plays a big part in these initiatives he unveiled earlier this week:
Among his strategies, Brantley said, is having a strong officer presence.
“I’ve been on this department, on that department at the sheriff’s office, I worked for 16 years. I remember when First Friday, we used to have a deputy on every block, we used to park our cars and we used to walk the blocks to ensure that people were safe and we didn’t have the gun violence and the things that we have now. So that approach works,” he said.
“One of the things we’re going to do is, is target recruitment. If you create an atmosphere, where the guys who will work and don’t mind coming to work. They will, in turn, encourage others to come and be a part of what we’re trying to do.”
Gangs have been blamed for many of Augusta’s crime problems, and Brantley seems to agree that it’s important to target gangs.
“Gangs start in neighborhoods, they are territorial. And we want to get back to community-oriented law enforcement because it’s very important that we are out there and we are able to communicate with the kids,” he said. “And we are able to know and understand what goes on in each neighborhood.”
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