Sheriff candidates raised more than $65,000 during the primaries
Sheriff candidates raised more than $65,000 during the primaries
Delgadillo spent $35K of his own money in his unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination. Senior, the winner, raised $15K. On the Democratic side, Sheriff Appelhans raised less than $9K.
Running for sheriff is evidently a costly affair.
In the Republican primary, Joel Senior defeated Rafael Delgadillo, earning almost twice as many votes. In the Democratic primary, Sheriff Aaron Appelhans crushed his two challengers with an even wider vote margin.
Senior will now face Appelhans in the general election in what is sure to be a closely watched race.
Primary campaign finance reports show that the five candidates who filed to run for Albany County Sheriff together raised more than $65,600 and spent almost $57,000 of that.
The vast majority of that money was raised and spent in the Republican primary contest. Senior raised more than $15,000 — mostly through individual donations — but that sum was dwarfed by his opponent’s total of more than $40,000.
Delgadillo’s $40,000 came mostly from his own bank account. Almost $35,000 came from Delgadillo himself or close family members, while most of the rest came from individual donations.
By contrast, Senior spent less than $1,100 of his own money.
In the primary, Senior won almost 4,700 votes, handily defeating Delgadillo, who won less than 2,200.
“This is the first thing I’ve run for so I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m really excited with how it turned out,” Senior said after his win. “My focus is really going to be on public safety and providing professional services for the community. My goal will be to improve the sheriff’s office and its relationship with our community.”
The Democratic primary was an all-around smaller affair. The majority of the funding — and vote share — went to incumbent Sheriff Aaron Appelhans, who has helmed the sheriff’s office since being appointed to the role in late 2020.
Appelhans raised almost $8,800 – $4,200 of which was his own money. By contrast, his opponents Zeb Gladney and Curtis Lee Moore raised just $720 and $650 respectively.
Appelhans won more than 900 votes, while Moore took 157 and Gladney took 75.
Appelhans said it was good to see community support for what he’s accomplished so far.
“We’ve definitely changed the direction of the office,” he said. “(We’ve had) a lot of accomplishments, a lot of things that we’ve done in the short time I’ve been here, and we’d like to continue that moving forward. Having that contitunity is important not only for the sheriff’s office but for the rest of the county.”
Specifically, Appelhans said he has been diversifying the workforce, increasing transparency and working on de-escalation training. He said he would like to work on alternative sentencing and decreasing traffic fatalities. Appelhans said he doesn’t want to see the office “go back” to the days before he took over — when the office was helmed by former Sheriff Dave O’Malley — and worries that might happen if he loses the general.
Below is a breakdown of the funding raised during the primary by both Republican and Democratic candidates for Albany County Sheriff.
Joel Senior (Republican)
Raised: $15,178
Spent: $10,952.18
Average Donation: $271.31
Own Money: $1,070
Contribution Breakdown:
$1,020 — Anonymous
$12,098 — Individual
$1,070 — Self/Family
$990 — In-Kind Contributions
Top Donors:
$1,500 — Candy Hamaker, Centennial resident
$1,500 — Norbert Kriebel, Laramie resident
$1,500 — Luisa Rios, Texas resident
$1,000 — JD Hamaker, Centennial resident
$1,000 — Anonymous
Rafael Delgadillo (Republican)
Raised: $40,345.13
Spent: $38,441.26
Average Donation: $155.57
Own Money: $34,900.13
Contribution Breakdown:
$5,345 — Individual
$34,900.13 — Self/Family
$100 — In-Kind Contributions
Top Donors:
$1,000 — Tracy Cederoth, Illinois resident
$600 — Coleen Wagner, Laramie resident
$500 — Nancy McDonald, Laramie resident
$300 — Heidi Reed, Laramie resident
$300 — Steven Fajardo, California resident
$300 — Joe Vitale, Laramie resident
$300 — Tom Schmidt, Laramie resident
Aaron Appelhans (Democrat)
Raised: $8,788.46
Spent: $6,301.09
Average Donation: $84.51
Own Money: $4,225
Contribution Breakdown:
$4,563.46 — Individual
$4,225 — Self/Family
Top Donors:
$515.38 — Ken Gerow, Laramie resident
$257.94 — Jerad Stack, Casper resident
$250 — Mary Beth Galvan, Laramie resident
$250 — Charles Ksir, Laramie resident
Curtis Lee Moore (Democrat)
Raised: $655.15
Spent: $655.15
Average Donation: N/A
Own Money: $655.15
Contribution Breakdown:
$655.15 — Self/Family
Zeb Gladney (Democrat)
Raised: $722.55
Spent: $270.12
Average Donation: $113.11
Own Money: $270.12
Contribution Breakdown:
$270.12 — Self/Family
$452.43 — In-Kind Contributions
Top Donors:
$332.48 — Grace Blowers, Colorado resident