Incumbent Clarence Birkhead easily wins reelection as Durham County sheriff
Clarence Birkhead easily won a second term as Durham County sheriff Tuesday, staving off a challenge from a retired FBI agent who said she could help Durham combat gang violence.
Birkhead beat Maria Jocys with 71.5% of the vote, according to unofficial results reported by the State Board of Elections.
Including early votes and with all 57 precincts reporting, Birkhead received 86,130 votes to 34,297 for Jocys.
“It’s a relief and a joy because it confirms that Durham County residents believe in what we’re doing,” Birkhead told The News & Observer. “Tonight we’re going to celebrate. We’re going to enjoy this moment, because tomorrow we get back to work.”
More than 126,000 ballots were cast in Durham in the 2022 midterms, a turnout rate of 52.8%.
Birkhead’s term lasts four years.
Jocys, 55, ran as an unaffiliated candidate after retiring from the FBI in December. She spent 24 years with the agency, the last five in Durham on the Violent Gang Task Force. Before that, she was a Greenville police officer for eight years.
Birkhead, 61, is a Democrat nearing the end of his first term. He coasted to victory in the May primary with 90% of the vote, though his opponent — former Durham County Sheriff’s Maj. Paul Martin — did not report any fundraising during the campaign.
All North Carolina counties elected sheriffs this year. The N.C. Sheriffs’ Association reports only five incumbents were defeated in 2022, including in neighboring Wake County, and that only one unaffiliated candidate was elected.
Most of Durham County’s votes, more than 87,000, were cast early, according to the State Board of Elections. Fewer than 39,200 votes were cast on Election Day, the county reported when polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
Getting back to work
Birkhead has spent 38 years in law enforcement, most with the Duke University Public Safety Department, where he eventually became chief. He was Hillsborough’s police chief for five years before moving back to Durham.
He bested incumbent Mike Andrews in the 2018 primary and later became the county’s first African-American sheriff. That year, seven of North Carolina’s largest counties elected Black sheriffs, five for the first time.
Birkhead celebrated with supporters downtown at Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub on election night. He said at 10 p.m. that he’d yet to receive a call from Jocys.
He said his priorities will include recruiting deputies, improving conditions in the county jail and fighting violent crime.
The Sheriff’s Office is down 122 employees, a quarter of its staff, and Birkhead told The N&O last month that it’s taking a toll. The jail has taken the biggest hit, with 96 vacancies.
“We are really looking forward to getting back to work to make Durham as safe as possible,” he said.
