The race to be the next sheriff of El Paso County heads to its final stretch with whoever wins having big boots to fill as arguably the least qualified person to become sheriff in a generation.
El Paso County Constable Oscar Ugarte , a Democrat, and retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Minerva Torres Shelton , a Republican, are running in the Nov. 5, general election to become sheriff, a position held for the past 40 years by leaders who had emerged from the highest ranks of local law enforcement.
Election 2024: Jabs fly over experience in El Paso County sheriff race between Ugarte, Torres Shelton
Both candidates are the children of Mexican immigrants. Both are bilingual and both say their decades in law enforcement has given them the experience to be sheriff.
El Paso County to get first new sheriff in 15 years
El Paso County has only had three sheriffs in 40 years.
Leo Samaniego was a retired deputy chief of the El Paso Police Department when he was first elected sheriff in 1984. Samaniego was highly-respected and credited with transforming, modernizing and growing the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. He was sheriff for more than 20 years until his death on Dec. 28, 2007.