HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio — Early voting is underway in Hamilton County. According to the board of elections, nearly 4,000 more early votes have been cast this year than at this time in 2020.
On the ballot here in Ohio’s third-largest county is the future of the sheriff’s office. The race is a rematch between Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey and former sheriff Jim Neil. But this time, Neil is running as a Republican.
Incumbent McGuffey urged voters "not to go back."
"We're not going to go back to a time where citizens weren't really clear if they were going to be treated fairly if they came in contact with the justice system," McGuffey said.
Neil said going back might not be a bad thing because he believes residents aren’t as safe as they were four years ago.
"Why did they stop a high school football game from playing because of the fear of violence?" Neil asked. "That happened somewhere recently in Cincinnati. You know, a high school game didn't play on Friday night — are we safer?"
After Democrats rejected Neil during the primary, he became a Republican in 2022.
And while Hamilton County is steadily Democratic with only two countywide Republican officeholders — prosecutor and county engineer — remaining, Neil told WCPO the switch was necessary.
"The party left me. I was what you call a union Democrat," Neil said. "I said no, I cannot support Sanctuary City. I do not support the bail bond reform."
The race has personal undertones as the relationship between Neil and McGuffey soured for nearly a decade now. Both grew up on the West Side and went to Western Hills High School. They both earned criminal justice degrees from the University of Cincinnati. As far as their career with the HCSO, Neil joined HCSO in 1981 and McGuffey joined two years later in 1983.
Where does each candidate stand on the issues?
Both candidates are taking two different approaches to court voters. However, the issues they addressed during their sit-downs with WCPO covered three topics: public safety, deputy staffing and even immigration.
Public Safety
Neil asserts under McGuffey's leadership the office's approach to fighting crime isn't sufficient.
"Why did they stop a high school football game from playing because of the fear of violence?" Neil said. "That happened somewhere recently in Cincinnati. You know, a high school game didn't play on Friday night. Are we safer?"
However, McGuffey denied this. She told WCPO that violent crime is down. According to FBI data, violent crime dipped by 20% over the last decade to 2023. Also according to this data set, property crimes are also down.
Deputy Staffing
In his interview with WCPO, Neil also alleged morale was down among the rank-and-file deputies, citing the sheriff's office's staffing shortages. McGuffey told WCPO the issues have mostly been addressed.
After several inmate escapes and ongoing recruiting challenges, McGuffey said she has incentives for recruitment and since 2021 the office has been paying for training corrections officers at the police academy to become certified law enforcement officers.
As a result, the sheriff's department has received 400 applicants for corrections officers with the department actively interviewing 200 of them so far.
Immigration
Former sheriff Neil maintains serious immigration enforcement is lacking.
“Charmaine’s policies [allow] the sanctuary cities to poison the entire region," Neil said. "I’m an enforcement officer that represents you and everybody else. I’m not a party sheriff, I’m not a political sheriff. The current sheriff is a political sheriff."
He asserts because of her ideology, McGuffey isn't strong on enforcing the law when an illegal immigrant commits a crime. But McGuffey said her office, ICE and other agencies are working together on a task force targeting illegal immigration.
"We're not dealing with a migrant crisis here in Hamilton County or the city of Cincinnati," McGuffey said. "Those are national talking points that he's parroting because he watched some TV show."
McGuffey said of the nearly 1,200 inmates in the jail, at any given time, about 70 undocumented migrants have come through in the last year.
Early voting has started in Hamilton County right now and goes through Nov. 3.
