After maintaining a strong lead as election results rolled in, Mark Napier has defeated current Sheriff Chris Nanos, 56 percent to 44 percent.
Napier said that his first priority is to do a "cultural reset" in the Sheriff's department to help restore morale.
"To the people who have been given a black eye by all the nonsense thatβs been going on and the high-level people who felt under-appreciated and often mistreated by the current administration, weβre going to lift them back up," Napier said.
Nanos, a Democrat, was appointed to the position by the board of supervisors in July 2015, to complete the term of longtime Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
Nanos did not return the Star's calls for comment Tuesday night, but conceded to Napier and announced his retirement in a Wednesday morning post on his personal Facebook page.
"Thank you ALL for your support. You have no worries as the PCSD will ALWAYS keep you safe," Nanos wrote in the post. "It was an honor to work alongside so many talented and caring individuals, just as it has been an honor to serve you and this great community."
Napier challenged Dupnik in the 2012 election, coming in with 46 percent of the vote to Dupnikβs 51 percent.
During the past several months, allegations of an FBI investigation into misuse of public funds have swirled around Nanos and other members of the department's command staff.
At the end of September, his second-in-command, Chief Deputy Chris Radtke, was indicted on seven felony counts of conspiracy and theft of $500,000 of federal funds, after the FBI found evidence that he used money intended for crime fighting for unrelated purchases.
Napier received endorsements from the Pima County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Tucson Police Officers Association and the Pima County Corrections Officers Association. In September, the deputies' union expressed a vote of no confidence in Nanos and reported a record number of votes by members.
