Darren Thompson is headed toward being the new sheriff-elect as
he opened up a lead after the first results at 8 p.m. Tuesday and
never trailed.
”
I’m a little numb right now,
”
Thompson said.
”
This is the end of a journey 10 months in length. I kept not
allowing myself to imagine what it would be like to be sheriff, and
it allowed me to keep my focus campaigning.
”
Darren Thompson is headed toward being the new sheriff-elect as he opened up a lead after the first results at 8 p.m. Tuesday and never trailed, according to unofficial election results.
Thompson has run away with the sheriff’s race with nearly 56.5 percent of the vote. His opponent, Undersheriff Pat Turturici, received around 43 percent of the vote.
Thompson, a Watsonville police lieutenant, steadily increased his lead throughout the night but he continued to believe it wasn’t over and that one precinct could change everything. The two were vying to succeed San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill, who is retiring.
Any uncertainty changed at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, when all the votes were finally tallied and Thompson couldn’t wipe away a smile.
“I’m a little numb right now,” Thompson said. “This is the end of a journey 10 months in length. I kept not allowing myself to imagine what it would be like to be sheriff, and it allowed me to keep my focus campaigning.”
Thompson finally celebrated and envisioned himself as being sheriff after all of the votes were counted, aside from about 3,000 provisional and absentee ballots left to tally. Just before midnight Tuesday, Thompson proclaimed his victory by wearing a gold sheriff’s-badge sticker.
Thompson said his first step would be talking to every one of the sheriff’s office employees to “find what they care about – find what they want to do.”
“I want to make sure everyone is doing all the right things in all the right places for all the right reasons,” he said.
Thompson’s runaway victory was a dramatic change over his showing in the primary election earlier this year. Thompson, the outsider in a four-person race, barely forced a runoff in June while gaining 25.2 percent of the votes. Turturici had nearly 46.8 percent of the vote and had needed only 50 percent to avoid Tuesday’s election. But many things changed in the final five months before Nov. 2.
“I’m so strong about my values of competency, character and community,” he said. “It is very affirming that the community that I call home acknowledged my values.”
Thompson’s election party at Mars Hill attracted a large crowd that flowed outside the coffee shop’s doors. Throughout the night, until 11 p.m. when it closed, his supporters huddled around computers and cell phones to track the votes.
Turturici did not return phone calls before publication. Earlier in the night, Turturici and his supporters asked a reporter and photographer from the Free Lance to leave his campaign event at Paine’s Restaurant because it was a private party.
Look back for more reaction from Tuesday’s results, including the sheriff’s race.
