Incumbent Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers easily swept past two challengers to win the Republican nomination for a second term.
Myers defeated both challengers — Rob Kittle, a retired sheriff’s deputy, and Tami Watson, a former Indiana State Police Master Trooper — by more than a three-to-one vote margin, garnering nearly 65 percent of the vote.
Kittle had nearly 19 percent of the vote as the final precincts came in, and Watson was third with about 17 percent of the total.
Total turnout for Tuesday’s primary, including absentee ballots, was 12,302, representing 24.7 percent of the 49,865 registered voters in the county, the clerk’s office reported. Final precinct totals were reported just before 8 p.m.
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Tuesday’s turnout exceeded the 2014 midterm primary locally, which had a turnout of 10,318, representing 20 percent of the 52,152 registered voters that year.
Myers arrived at the Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena GOP viewing party about an hour into the gathering, receiving hugs and congratulations from well-wishers. The crowd had been watching Myers increase his lead over Kittle and Watson from the first returns reported, which were 3,327 absentee ballots cast in this primary by early voters.
The GOP results-watching crowd, well over 300 people, was heavily populated with individuals wearing brown and gold “Myers for Sheriff” T-shirts. Several deputies and their kids could be seen wearing the shirts throughout the audience.
As the early returns came in, Kittle was circumspect, saying Myers’ early large lead presented an uphill battle.
Kittle stayed inside at the viewing party for awhile, but he and his family moved outside to the picnic tables near the Hamilton Center entrance to track the returns from the county’s election return website.
Myers said the vote showed that people are happy with what the men and women of the sheriff’s department are doing.
“We’ve been given a clear agenda from day one that drug enforcement is our top priority,” Myers said. “I think that’s what people have wanted us to do. And it’s how you treat people. This win goes to our deputies and the employees of the sheriff’s department, the corrections officers and the maintenance workers. They are the ones who stepped up to the plate.”
There are no challengers lining up so far for Myers in the fall, although Democrats and independents have an upcoming deadline in June to slate a candidate if they wish.
Myers thanked Kittle and his supporters for running a clean, respectful campaign.
“He kept it clean and didn’t make it personal,” Myers said.
The sheriff’s race in the primary turned contentious late in the campaign when allegations surfaced about disciplinary action against Watson when she was a trooper, followed by allegations from Watson supporters about Myers’ actions as sheriff.
“It was harder on my wife and kids more than anything,” the sheriff said. “All I can say is good will prevail.”
As the final precincts were coming in, there was little movement in the vote totals. Kittle described the results as disheartening.
“Early on, we made a decision we would run a responsible campaign, but we would be spirited when we needed to be,” Kittle said. “I did get my message out and we did discuss the differences in our philosophy and approaches.”
Kittle said he and Myers differed on some of the fiscal decisions that have been made over the past four years, and he had some different ideas in how to address jail overcrowding and how to handle the sheriff’s reserve deputy program.
Kittle also wanted to beef up drug interdiction efforts, but he also gave Myers and the sheriff’s department credit for the successes they have had with the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, a combined effort of the sheriff’s department, Columbus Police Department and the county prosecutor’s office.
“We did everything we could to get the message out to voters,” Kittle said. “I knew it would be a challenge to go up against an incumbent.”
Kittle said he would not run again for the sheriff’s job.
“I’m completely comfortable with how it turned out,” he said. “The voters have spoken and I fully respect that.”
Watson did not attend the GOP watch party at Hamilton Center and did not return a telephone call seeking comment about the election results.
On her “Watson for Sheriff” Facebook page, she thanked supporters, saying she was “proud to have been the first woman to put my name on the ballot for sheriff in Bartholomew County!”
“We had one of the biggest turnouts we’ve ever had other than a presidential election. I am proud to be a part of it. I’m very proud to have challenged the status quo,” Watson said on her Facebook page. “I said the first day I was not a politician. I did not fare well in the political arena. And that’s OK!”
Afterward, she also posted that she would not seek the sheriff’s position again.
During the campaign, the three Republicans differed on several issues, including whether the old portion of the jail should be reopened and renovated for use — and if that is done, whether it should be used as a drug rehabilitation facility, which has been proposed through the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County.
Myers said he is prepared to help other community leaders, the Bartholomew County Council and the county commissioners address the effort to reopen the old portion of the jail.
“The immediate challenges are space and staffing,” Myers said. “The county council and county commissioners are already working with my office to address staffing and potential available space.”
In 2016, the average daily jail population was 160, Myers said. But in 2017, it increased to 230 inmates. Then, 40 of those inmates were Level 6 felons, he said.
This week, the sheriff’s department reported jail occupancy had reached more than 250 inmates.
Currently, 53 of those inmates are Level 6 felons being housed in Columbus instead of being sent to the Indiana Department of Correction, as a result of a new state law requiring officials to house low-level offenders locally, according to the sheriff’s department.
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Bartholomew County Sheriff
Rob Kittle (R); 1,710
Matthew Myers (R); 5,884
Tami Watson (R); 1,597
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