Latest count shows her ahead with 59% of the vote.
Kelly Anne Martinez was recently elected as San Diego County’s first female sheriff.
Martinez will be the first woman and the first democrat to hold the position with almost 59% of the vote. According to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, there are approximately 7,000 uncounted ballots. John Hemmerling, the other candidate, has tallied about 41% of the vote.
The fentanyl death rate in San Diego is one of the concerns Martinez hopes to address, which became the focus of her campaign. The county’s jails have one of the highest in-custody death rates of California’s largest counties, which Martinez aims to reform as well. She will head the department that contracts with Del Mar, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, Lemon Grove, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach and Vista.
The former undersheriff will ascend to a position that manages thousands of deputy sheriffs, the county jails, and seven detention centers for a six-year term through Assembly Bill 759 which quietly passed this summer, allowing the vote for sheriff to align with presidential elections.
Martinez has more than thirty years law-enforcement experience with the Sheriff’s Department.
