By Jon Harris:
During this last election cycle, after lengthy discussions with many supporters and my wife, I decided to throw my hat in the ring and run for Sheriff in my county. This was my first foray into the political field, and to say the learning curve was steep would be an understatement. There was no curve at all; it was straight up.
My wife and I went to a myriad of training sessions. Ethics training, reporting requirements, filings, deadlines, and classes on building an organization were how we spent almost every weekend for months. We planned, we strategized, and we assembled our support base. My race, although in a very rural west Texas county, became a national oddity. Reporters from several prominent publications became interested in the political fight that was happening. News media, the Justice Department, several civil rights groups and more were all spending resources to follow a race in this little corner of rural Texas. It was quite surprising.
I have always believed that there is no place for politics in law enforcement. Regrettably, our system makes the Sheriff race a partisan contest. To me, this is a real shame. The party politics takes away from the issues, the qualifications of the candidates, and the process. Due to staunch partisanship, the truth of what matters is often lost in political rhetoric. Because I had not been in the county for very long, it became evident that I would not have time to run against the sitting Sheriff in the primaries. This pushed me to run in the opposing party so my race would be in the general election, which was a very hard decision for me.
What I didn’t realize was that I would be a party of one. There was no party organization in the county at all. The Sheriff I was running against had repeatedly put the party chair in jail for one thing or another. It was evident to me the Sheriff was using the office as a political hammer, and I wanted nothing to do with that type of party politics, so I ran on the opposing ticket.
I was very idealistic. I had eighteen months to campaign and gain support. I expected rules and decorum to be followed. With a career in the Military and Law Enforcement, you learn to do the job, not to be political. Unfortunately, my opponent did not feel the same way. The race degenerated into the dirtiest thing I had ever seen. My wife and I, during the course of the campaign, pledged not to go to the dark side. We promised the voters and ourselves not to get into the gutter but to concentrate on what was important, the issues and what I thought I could do as Sheriff to improve law enforcement in the county. It is the tactic and approach I stayed with throughout.
Sadly, I was not successful. Although the negative attacks, and the absurd things that were hurled at me were not effective for the most part, it really didn’t matter in the long run. They say you can’t prove a negative– that was never a truer statement than when it comes to a political race where everything imaginable is thrown at the wall to see what will stick. Those attacks still hurt my family and me personally.
The two campaigns, mine, and my opponent’s, were diametrically opposed as to how we approached the task. The race became party-based. In the end, the race was very close and decided by 124 votes. Although I did have a good number of crossover votes between the parties, there simply were not enough to overcome the largest voter turnout in history for my county. The political contest was driven by the national election.
What was the most disappointing and enlightening at the same time was how partisan the sides were. It really made no difference what the issue was, or what the news or the information was. The entire race depended on whether the letter in front of your name was D or R. That’s what the race was about. This made no sense at all to me. The Sheriff does not vote on laws or bills. The Sheriff does not present bills in Congress or at the state level. The Sheriff has no political vote at all, and that is the way it should be.
The voters saw it completely different. My race for Sheriff was ultimately tied to the national politics of the presidential election. I started getting questions about my stand on national policies, health care, abortion rights, immigration, and all the rest. None of those positions, regardless of what they were, would have had any effect on my job as Sheriff. I found this to be utterly moronic.
Something else I discovered while running was who was genuine and who was not. This little tidbit of information has real value. It lets you know exactly who to trust and who not to turn your back on. It was very depressing to see people that you thought were and had been your friends, spread the lies and party line of your opponent. My intention was not to run as the Republican Sheriff or the Democratic Sheriff but as the County Sheriff. It seems I was very naive in thinking the voters actually cared about issues or took the time to educate themselves.
Now, after the election, I have had a chance to reflect on the trials and tribulations of the last two years. It was an education in people, motivations, and exactly how things work. Something that I have also learned is that small town politics are no better — and maybe even worse — than the national political discourse. I tried to run as much of a nonpartisan race as I could. While I do get compliments on how I stayed on the higher ground, it was realistically to no avail. I feel a little like Don Quixote fighting windmills in that regard.
On the national scene, we saw much of the same thing. It is no longer issues and real policies that drive voters. It has become win-at-any-cost for the politicians and a strictly party-driven exercise for most voters. The voters that follow this track no longer think for themselves. In my opinion, that is a real shame.
I have also learned why it is so hard to find good people to run for office. Why would anyone in their right mind voluntarily subject themselves and their family to what a run for political office has become today? I subjected myself to the vitriol that was thrown my way naively, not really understanding how bad it would end up becoming. I have very strong reservations about stepping into that arena again.
Putting my race aside, on the national front, I have been waiting for years for a President not to be party-driven. We deserve better than what we have had in the past. We deserve a leader that sees everyone as the same. Reagan was close. He saw things clearly, I think. I have been waiting for a President to give their acceptance speech and say they are no longer a Republican or a Democrat but only an American. They are the American President, and party politics no longer matters. Listening to the acceptance speech for President Donald Trump, I heard that message just about as close as I have ever heard it. With the new President, I am feeling a little better. I think there will be an abandonment of strictly party politics, at least as far as the President is concerned.
During his inauguration speech, I heard President Trump say, “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.” I have been waiting for a statement like that from a President my entire adult life.
My faith in the political system, as well as in people in general, was severely shaken by the experience of my little county-wide race. Even though I saw the worst part of politics from a very up front and personal side, I am still idealistic, still hopeful. As we watch our two parties still warring over a contest that has already been decided, it seems things just will not change.
But I am hoping President Trump can rise above, or at least ignore the partisanship, and restore my faith in the political system once more.
Jon Harris is an OpsLens contributor and former Army NCO, civilian law enforcement officer, and defense contractor with over 30 years in the law enforcement community. He holds a B.S. in Government and Politics and an M.S. in Criminal Justice.
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