Randy Emerson has filed for Cowley County Sheriff as a Republican, setting up a primary election face off with Undersheriff Don Read in August.
Emerson filed for the position Wednesday and has returned to the Republican Party. He filed as a Democrat in 2004 when he ran against Read’s boss, Bob Odell. Sheriff Odell announced his retirement earlier this month.
Four years ago, Emerson said, he ran as a Democrat to have more time to campaign against Odell, the Republican incumbent.
“I don’t feel like I need the extra time now,” he said. “Up until the time I ran for sheriff four years ago, I was a Republican.”
The first time around, Emerson told voters that it was time for a change in leadership in the sheriff’s office. Emerson is back this time because he feels like a number of the issues he brought to the forefront last time have been implemented with success.
The sheriff’s office is buying vehicles from local car dealers, has improved the scheduling of its patrols and contracts out for food service, Emerson said. Those were tenets of Emerson’s platform when he ran against Odell.
Emerson sees the changes as proof his administrative ideas can work.
“I want to see more work done fighting drugs,” he said. “And I want to put a resource officer in schools. I want to see our officers out in public more often, at the fair, the Walnut Valley Festival.”
A knock against Emerson has been his background in law enforcement. He was police chief in Douglass for a time and was a graduate of the law enforcement academy in 1990. But for more than a decade, though, he’s been executive director for the Winfield Housing Authority.
“But the job of sheriff is an administrative position,” Emerson said when asked about his experience. “I’ve been an administrator for 11 years.”
Emerson got about 34 percent of the vote, in comparison to Odell’s 62 percent, four years ago.
If no Democrat files for sheriff, the August primary will determine the county’s next sheriff, county clerk Karen Brooks said.
