Sheriff Ruben Nolasco won re-election despite pressure from victims’ families to step down and a Justice Department report finding ‘cascading’ failures among the law enforcement response that day
For nearly two years, a Texas county sheriff has refused to step down after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in 2022.
Instead, on Super Tuesday, Uvalde County sheriff Ruben Nolasco faced voters for the first time in the wake of the massacre.
And he won re-election with roughly 39 per cent of votes against three Republican challengers, according to preliminary results.
The sheriff has repeatedly rebuffed calls to resign or withdraw his candidacy for re-election despite overwhelming public pressure from victims’ families, demands that he face criminal charges, and a federal investigation that detailed a minute-by-minute timeline exposing “cascading” failures in the law enforcement response that day.
It’s the Republican primary, not the general election
And 39% for the incumbent in a primary is far from a decisive win
He probably won’t win the general.
That’s still an embarrassing amount of ppl wanting an incompetent failure running the sheriff department
Only if you forget the sample is republican primary voters…
Hell, it’s probably less votes than trump got. When even trump voters are turning him down, he ain’t gonna win the general.
They’re afraid the guys at the bar will call them a pussy for not voting “conservative.” Fear rules their lives.
Nope, in a rural Texas county, the Republican primary is for all intents and purposes the general.
Was there nobody else willing to stand up and do the job? Even someone in the same party, with the same principles should be able to look at an assessment of the Sheriff’s department’s actions and realize a leadership change is necessary for the general safety of the community.
If you are a conservative living in Uvalde, Texas with a couple of kids, wouldn’t you want the peace of mind to know the local Sheriff’s office is under new management?
I wouldn’t feel safe having my kid in school with that guy in charge.
If we could just declare schoolchildren to be embryos, Republicans might consider their lives to have value and be worth protecting.
Nope.
In Alabama, as soon as the Republicans realized their craziness impacted their own lives, changing the rules became the top priority of the state. They are doing a perfect job of showing us they could do their jobs super efficiently, but have zero desire to.
Also, their workaround will protect the businesses and the doctors, but not the patients.
Cruelty to the ‘others’ is the point.
Why are positions like Sheriff and Coroner elected? Shouldn’t they be appointed/hired based on ACTUAL FUCKING QUALIFICATIONS and experience?
It makes them independent of the mayor, who appoints the police chief and is effectively in control of the police department (if the chief doesn’t cooperate with them they’ll appoint a new one). The mayor is just as likely to be corrupt as the sheriff, so having 2 separate law enforcement agencies that are able to investigate each other seems like a good idea. In an ideal situation they’d keep each other honest.
Checks and balances…
Same with coroner. Let’s say you have a corrupt mayor and corrupt police department that would really like it if the coroner reported some deaths to be suicide or of natural causes.
But when everyone is in the same political party and colluding anyways, it doesn’t really work.
How do coroner run anyways? Like…what are their platforms?
I promise to provide accurate information about the cause of death.
Yeah, me too.
They rarely run opposed. But if they do I assume it’s based on qualifications or local trust.
Interestingly, basically no one has any checks on sheriffs. We can “vote them out” but that’s extremely difficult, and sheriffs can interfere with they’re competitors with no consequences.
The police department can investigate them. Do you think there are more checks on the mayor?
Many counties the sheriff is the primary elected official. They are generally the local executive, outside of cities that are largely enough to need a more formal government.
Because they are left over from the 1800’s and people are too stupid to fix it.
Not stupid, just they know they can use the shitty system to their advantage.
Voting. It just works.
What happens when a system that only works with an educated, engaged, and intellectually honest population starts attacking education, engagement, and honesty?
Good things, surely.
In this case I think it’s more the indifference of voters without children or sympathy to those who do don’t care as long as they aren’t affected.
Republicans care about kids SO MUCH that they’ll HAPPILY REELECT someone who allowed 19 Schoolchildren to be GUNNED DOWN!
Texas
Always Mess with Texas
Please Tread on me
Conservatives gotta conserve.
