Isaacs re-elected
Published 11:54 pm Tuesday, November 5, 2013
![Sheriff Raleigh Isaacs Sr. visited the Ebenezer precinct to chat with supporters. His truck with a large billboard in the back was a fixture at polling places throughout the day. After all the votes were counted, he was victorious in his re-election bid.](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2013/11/IMG_2790.jpg)
Sheriff Raleigh Isaacs Sr. visited the Ebenezer precinct to chat with supporters. His truck with a large billboard in the back was a fixture at polling places throughout the day. After all the votes were counted, he was victorious in his re-election bid.
Incumbent Sheriff Raleigh Isaacs Sr. won re-election Tuesday, albeit with fewer votes than the two challengers combined.
“We’re very grateful that we were re-elected,” Isaacs said by phone Tuesday evening. “My pledge is to continue to provide the same excellent service we have over the last 20 years.”
The incumbent took more than 48 percent of the vote, with his closest challenger, Jen Pond, taking more than 40 percent. Another challenger, Aaron Johnson, got 11 percent.
Isaacs attributed the fact that most voters cast a ballot against him to negative campaigning by Pond.
“The message that came from the voters is they do not like these negative campaigns and people should be running on their own merits, and not the misfortunes of others by attacking family members.”
Isaacs referred to his son, Raleigh Isaacs Jr., who has had several run-ins with the law in recent years. He also gave Johnson credit for not running a negative campaign.
Pond said after the results were in that she was glad to have been a part of the process.
“I knew this was going to be a monumental task when I undertook it,” she said. “My team did a fantastic and fabulous job during the campaign, and it obviously showed in how close we came.”
“I’m glad to have been a part of such a neat process like our political system and to have tried to make a difference,” she added. “If anything, I hope I give more people, better candidates than I, inspiration to become a part of our political process, because we certainly need really good leaders in this day and age in all elected positions.”
Johnson did not return multiple phone calls on Tuesday night.
Pond carried several precincts by considerable margins, including Belleharbour, Southside, King’s Fork, John F. Kennedy and Hollywood. She also eked out narrow victories in Hillpoint, Burbage Grant and Olde Towne — winning the latter by only four votes.
But Isaacs made the precincts he won count, with his strongest performance in Pittmantown at 60 percent of the 265 votes cast there. He also won in Driver, which had the most votes cast in the sheriff’s race.
Other races that featured no opposition included these General Assembly incumbents re-elected to their positions:
- Republican Rick Morris, 64th House District
- Republican S. Chris Jones, 76th House District
- Democrat Lionell Spruill Sr., 77th House District
- Democrat Matthew James, 80th House District
These constitutional officers who had no opposition were re-elected in Suffolk:
- Commonwealth’s Attorney C. Phillips Ferguson
- Commissioner of the Revenue Thomas Hazelwood
- Treasurer Ronald Williams