Chris Amason, a former commander on the Norman Police Department's investigations division, leads the Cleveland County sheriff Republican runoff by a wide margin.
After receiving more than 45 percent of the vote in the June 30 Republican primary, which featured four Republican candidates, Amason currently holds 71 percent of the runoff vote, with 80 percent of precincts reporting.
Amason's opponent, Rick Adkins, is currently a lieutenant in the Cleveland County Sheriff's office and notably distributed campaign materials which claimed he would "send the liberal elites running for cover" if elected.
Amason will now move on to the Nov. 3 general election, where he will run against the race's only non-Republican candidate, independent Kelly Owings. Owings has previously held law enforcement positions, including as a reserve deputy in Cleveland County and a reserve officer in Lexington. He does not appear to have an online campaign presence, though he has a personal Facebook page.
Amason retired from the NPD after the primary election. In an interview with NonDoc, Amason said his time serving on the Norman police force allowed him to to see training and leadership opportunities he "would not have any other place" which prepared him well for the office of sheriff.
"Norman Police Department has a stellar reputation across the state," Amason said in the article. "I am going to be proud to have served there."
Amason said he intends to expand the presence of law enforcement in both rural and urban communities in the county if elected, and opposes the movement to defund police departments nationwide.
"What I’ve seen with the outcry of the public, I don’t believe that the majority of the citizens believe the police should be defunded,” Amason said. “Now can we do things in a better way? Absolutely — I think that the charge of law enforcement is always to find a way to do things better.”
Amason said he will also aim to hire and retain deputies, adding that the recent calls for defunding police departments in some communities may be discouraging potentially qualified people from seeking deputy positions at all.
“It is very important to have the right people in those positions — and they’re there for the right reasons,” Amason told NonDoc. “With the climate that we have today, it’s probably keeping a lot of people that would ordinarily opt to serve the community and keep them from even applying right now.”
This article will be updated as election results are finalized.
Editor's note: This story was co-published with NonDoc Media.
