Frederick County voters have turned out Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, the Republican who has held the office since 2006, electing Democrat Karl Bickel in Tuesday's election after Bickel had lost to Jenkins three times before. Election-night tallies showed Bickel with 52,257 votes to Jenkins's 41,675, according to results reported that night.
A Fourth Try Finally Pays Off
Bickel had fallen short against Jenkins in three previous campaigns, and the incumbent's last victory had been a narrow one, winning by fewer than 3,000 votes, as reported by The Banner. This time the margin was far wider, and The Banner noted that for the first time in two decades, Frederick County will have a new sheriff. The outlet also pointed to a shifting electorate as part of the backdrop, reporting that the Republican Party's registration deficit in the fast-growing county had widened since Jenkins's last win.
Bickel's campaign operated on a shoestring budget compared to past cycles; as of October 18, it had just $6,571 remaining in the bank, according to the same Banner report. Despite the thin war chest, Bickel told the Frederick News-Post that his focus as sheriff would be on the office's ethics and integrity. He said the Sheriff's Office should build trust and provide transparency and justice, per the same report.
The ICE Partnership That Defined the Race
The contest unfolded against a long-running debate over Frederick County's participation in ICE's 287(g) program, which coordinates local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities. Jenkins became one of the first sheriffs in the country to join the program back in 2008, a move that deputized his staff to question people's immigration status inside the county jail, according to Bolts. Jenkins has said the program was an effective crime-fighting tool, while Bickel argued that courts, not ICE, had the appropriate say in immigration enforcement, as reported by DC News Now.
That partnership effectively ended earlier this year. Frederick County's 287(g) activities were terminated immediately once Maryland's governor signed a new state law banning such agreements, according to WYPR. Seven of Maryland's nine counties that had similar arrangements, including Frederick, Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Harford, St. Mary's and Wicomico, informed federal officials they had to terminate their partnerships because of the law, per Maryland Matters. A chapter document from the Maryland General Assembly states that government bodies in the state may not enter into an immigration enforcement agreement, though the excerpt available does not spell out the law's full scope or any exceptions.
Local Democrat Says Voters Sent a Message
Kris Fair, a Democratic Frederick County delegate, said Jenkins did not try to work with the community during his tenure, according to DC News Now. Fair said the immigrant community had hoped to build a dialogue with the Sheriff's Office, and that Frederick County residents made their voices heard on election night and now have new Sheriff's Office leadership, the outlet reported.
Jenkins's exit closes out five terms in office dating back to his first election in 2006, a run defined in large part by his aggressive embrace of federal immigration enforcement years before similar crackdowns spread nationally. Bickel's win hands the office to a challenger who spent years and three failed campaigns arguing that approach had gone too far, and who now inherits a department reshaped by the state's new ban on ICE partnerships.
