Mecklenburg sheriff candidates say split vote benefitted McFadden
After Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden overcame a series of scandals and won a tight primary race, candidates who ran against him acknowledged one thing that helped — their own unwillingness to drop out.
McFadden won about 34% of the vote earlier this month.
With support from NFL players, judges and a local police group, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Sgt. Ricky Robbins got the closest to unseating McFadden with 31%. Rodney Collins, a retired chief deputy at the sheriff’s office who had former Sheriff Irwin Carmichael’s backing, won 27%. Former detention officer Antwain Nance took 8%.
With no Republicans in the race, McFadden’s March 3 win means his name will be the only one on a general election ballot later this year.
The win represented a comeback for McFadden, who is under criminal investigation. The sheriff has been accused of threatening a state lawmaker, having deputies drive officials to bars and strip clubs on the clock, and abusing his position in other ways. He’s called allegations made against him political smears.
But even before the State Bureau of Investigation started looking into claims about him, people who worked for McFadden accused him of toxicity and misconduct for years.
“I think, from a strategy perspective, we knew that was a risk, and that it would favor the incumbent,” Collins said of there being three candidates who ran against his onetime boss. “I just believe that none of the three of us — no one was interested in suspending their campaign in support of another candidate. I think that we all thought that we were the most qualified and suitable candidate for the role.”
Still, he said: “The split definitely had that outcome, and it favored the incumbent.”
Collins ran on his experience as someone who climbed to second-in-command at the sheriff’s office. His and McFadden’s arguments during debates sometimes turned personal.
Robbins also alluded to the split on election night, and said it’s what happens when there are four people in one race.
Nance, who placed in a distant fourth, told The Charlotte Observer that while he could see a split vote benefitting McFadden, his supporters wanted him to win. The 8,000 votes he got were for him, and not necessarily against McFadden, he said. The same idea applied to votes for Robbins and Collins, he said.
“Logically, it makes sense, but at the same time, we have to understand: The reason the sheriff won the election is because the people chose him again,” Nance said.
Predominantly Black voting precincts in Charlotte’s “crescent” largely supported McFadden, according to a data review by the Observer.
Robbins has said he will not run for office again.
Nance and Collins told the Observer that they had not made a decision about whether to run again, but they were grateful for the connections they made and the support they found while campaigning.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.