Staff Reports
Democratic Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw secured a sixth consecutive term Tuesday, defeating Republican colleague-turned-foe Michael Gauger in a contentious race for the county’s top cop job.
With early votes fully tallied, mail-in votes partially counted and all 798 precincts reporting, Bradshaw had 58% of the vote, outpacing his longtime second-in-command to keep his job overseeing an Office of six departments, 4,300 employees and roughly 1,500 volunteers.
Both men are 76 and boast more than 50 years of law enforcement experience.
Bradshaw was first elected Sheriff in 2004 and has held the job longer than anyone else. He ran largely on his record of service, which included the creation of the agency’s Targeted Violence Unit, which reviews and manages potential terrorism and targeted violence cases, and task forces to “bring down gangs, eliminate illegal pill mills, hunt down cyber predators, and lock up human traffickers.”
He also introduced the use of body cameras and invested $13 million in confiscated funds to bolster local community programs.
Gauger mounted a challenge against Bradshaw after serving for 16 years as his Chief Deputy. He ran on a promise to reform the Sheriff’s budget by cutting “lavish spending” on office space and ending “million-dollar bonuses” and “$100,000 luxury vehicles for executives.”
He also pledged to restore a multitude of Sheriff’s Office departments — including its Graffiti Unit, Aggressive Driving Unit and Animal Cruelty Prevention Unit — and resurrect the agency’s Eagle Academy and Drug Farm, which respectively provided boot camps to at-risk youths and recovery services to nonviolent drug offenders.
Gauger blamed Bradshaw for eliminating the units despite the Sheriff’s nearly $1 billion budget and the purchase of four new helicopters and two fixed-wing planes.
Bradshaw notched endorsements this cycle from both Gauger’s Primary opponent, retired police Capt. Lauro Diaz, and his own Primary challenger, Democratic Riviera Beach Police Maj. Alex Freeman.
Other Democrats backing Bradshaw included Boynton Beach Sen. Lori Berman and Reps. Kelly Skidmore of Boca Raton and David Silvers of Lake Clarke Shores.
Gauger won an endorsement from the Palm Beach County Fraternal Order of Police — a notable nod, his campaign said, considering the rarity of an incumbent Sheriff not receiving the backing of his deputies.
The Palm Beach Post and South Florida Sun-Sentinel also backed him.
Bradshaw has dominated financially, raising $1.78 million through his campaign account and state-level political committee, Friends of Ric Bradshaw, through Oct. 31. Including carry-over funds from prior campaigns, he had more than $1 million left less than a week before Election Day.
Gauger reported raising close to $246,000 through his campaign account, which had about $20,000 left heading into November.
Both candidates received money from convicted felons. Bradshaw accepted a donation from Lewis Stahl, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison for evading federal income taxes. Gauger initially received a donation from Lewis Kasman, a former associate of New York mobster John Gotti, but refunded the money.
The candidates engaged in some political mudslinging. Gauger blamed Bradshaw for lax security following the second assassination attempt of Donald Trump near the former President’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Bradshaw fired back that the criticism was proof Gauger is “clueless” about the Sheriff’s responsibilities.
During the Primary, a political committee that donated to Bradshaw for the past two decades accused Gauger of lying about his service in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
Gauger called it a “smear.”
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Jesse Scheckner and Michael Costeines contributed to this report.
