GREENFIELD — Now, Brad Burkhart can rest.
The sheriff’s department chief deputy, who earned the Republican nomination for sheriff in Tuesday’s primary, spent Election Day stumping with a 102-degree fever, telling friends and supporters that he’d quit only after the results were in.
As the votes were tallied and it became clear he was victorious, he let out a sign of relief as the supporters erupted in cheers and applause.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“I’m ecstatic that it’s over,” he said, slumped back on a wall at the Hancock County Courthouse Annex, a grin spread wide across his face. “I never get sick. I picked the worst time.”
The GOP race for sheriff pitted Burkhart against his colleagues at the sheriff’s department, Lt. Donnie Munden and Deputy Donnie Smith, and former probation department chief Wayne Addison.
Burkhart collected 5,293 votes (46 percent). Addison was the runner up with 2,982 votes (26 percent). Munden and Smith tallied 2,334 (20 percent) and 880 (7.6 percent), respectively.
No Democrats ran in the primary. The party now has until June 30 to slate a candidate for the November ballot.
Burkhart has more than 30 years’ experience with the sheriff’s department and has served in just about every role the department offers.
For the past seven years, he’s served as current Sheriff Mike Shepherd’s second in command, helping to oversee the department’s approximately $6 million budget and supervising nearly 90 merit, reserve and jail officers.
Burkhart joined the department in 1988 as a jail officer before becoming a merit deputy. He spent 16 years as a road deputy before moving to the investigations unit as a detective and eventually into the administration wing. He’s also served on the department’s SWAT team and underwater search and rescue dive team.
Throughout the campaign, Burkhart was a boisterous proponent of the new jail project, hosting talks and tours of the current facility
Addressing the issues there will be among his chief goals once he takes office, he said.
Collectively, the candidates for sheriff had 100-plus years’ experience in law enforcement.
Munden’s career in law enforcement mirrors Burkhart’s. The pair climbed the department’s ranks simultaneously.
Munden served as chief deputy under former Sheriff Bud Gray and was appointed acting sheriff for the last four months of Gray’s term before Gray retired. He now oversees the department’s day-shift patrol officers.
Smith, a road patrol deputy, worked as an officer for the Cumberland Police Department for about four years before joining the sheriff’s department, where he’s worked as a road patrol deputy for the last 26 years.
Runner-up Addison, a lifelong Hancock County resident, served 35 years as the county’s chief probation officer before retiring to run for sheriff.
He told voters repeatedly over the course of the campaign that it was his boyhood dream to become the county sheriff, and he’s worked hard to achieve that goal.
As he watched the result roll in from the courthouse annex alongside the other candidates, his disappointment was clear. He wished Burkhart the best of luck, expressed gratitude to his supporters, but couldn’t help feeling a bit let down by the way it all turned out.
“It just wasn’t meant to be,” Addison said.