During the presidential primaries on March 1, Republicans also had the opportunity to vote for a sheriff nominee. Since the Democrats only had one candidate, Rex Berry, there was no need for them to have a primary. The sheriff seat is open due to Stanley Glanz’s resignation on November 1.
Out of 82,163 votes, Regaldo received 33,271, which is over twenty thousand more than his closest opponent, Luke Sherman, who received 13,236. John Fitzpatrick recieved 12,320, and Tom Helm received 10,518. The other five candidates (Jason R. Jackson, Dan Miller, Randy Pierce, Brandon Hendrix and Bill Reeves) all received fewer than 4,000 votes each.
Regaldo is a sergeant with the Tulsa Police Department. He was endorsed by former governor Frank Keating, who held office from 1995 to 2003. Regaldo’s campaign website states that he’s been the lead detective in 81 homicides, supervises a Special Investigations Gang Unit and has served on Tulsa’s SWAT team. He has also been an instructor for the Council on Law Enforcement and Education Training (CLEET). The campaign website notes that he “teaches the proper use of deadly force, victim interview strategies and proper suspect interrogation.” He was also awarded the Medal of Valor in 2004 by the Tulsa Police Department for what his campaign website describes as “protect[ing] an innocent citizen during a battle with a gunman accused in two homicides.”
The general election between Regaldo and Berry will be April 5, and whoever wins will take office on April 11. However, as this is an election year, the new sheriff will be up for reelection in November.
