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Three candidates have announced their intentions torunin the 2022 election forBuncombe County sheriff,including incumbent Quentin Miller.

Miller beatRepublican opponent Shad Higgins in a landslide victory in 2018, becoming the countys first Black sheriff.Runningagainsthimthis timeareDavid Hurley, aDemocrat,and Adrian AJ Fox, a Republican.

Though running as a Democrat,Hurleywasformerly registeredas aRepublicanand has said that the2020electionwas stolen from Donald Trump, according to Asheville Watchdog.

More: Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller to speak with residents in Leicester Aug. 19

According toHurleys campaign website and his LinkedIn (listed under the name David Bentley), heserved in the Marines for four years, came back to the U.S. andbecamea police officer in Raleigh,left the police to work private security in Afghanistan, and then started an internet marketing company, which he recently sold.

Hurleysopinionsswing between ideological lines: On Aug. 9, he reposted a memeon his campaign Facebook pagethat says,When the rich rob the poor its called business. When the poor fight back its called violence," while during a July meeting inPack Square, Hurley toldthegroupthat if electedhedaim to bea constitutional sheriff.

The constitutional sheriff is asmall but growingideologicalmovement that believes county sheriffs are thehighest-rankinglaw enforcement agents in the country,more powerful than local, federal or state police.The movement issupportedmostly by a mixoffar-rightgroups, from former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaioto the Oath Keepers, a militia organization with manymembers tied to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.

Buncombe sheriff: County will no longer honor ICE detainers

On Foxs campaign website, he also says hes running as a constitutional sheriff.

Im running so we can take our county back because its gone downhill so far with antifa and BLM, Fox said to the Citizen Times, explaining that he was referring to the protests in the summer of 2020 againstpolice brutality. Hesaidheroin camps and needle exchange programs areother examples of the ways in which the county has gone downhill.

Fox said he would not propose any policy changes, but that he would enforce the (policies)that are already there. He said he would hold federal immigrant detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2019,Millerstopped holding immigrants for the agency unless they had a warrant signed by a judge.

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Fox has worked in law enforcement for 40 years.He said he worked for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, the Buncombe County Sheriffs Office for nearly two decades, the Lake Lure Police Department and the Haywood County Sheriffs Office.

While he was aBuncombeCounty deputy, Fox worked underSheriff Bobby Medford. Medford wassentenced to15years in a federal prison for corruptionand extortion. Hediedin June 2020 after contractingCOVID-19 while incarcerated.

Over Millers tenure, he's enacted some policies favorable to progressives. In addition toending the jail's relationship with ICE, he hasfireddeputies accused of misconduct, including the July 23firing of Matthew Lund,who was charged withchild abuse. Following last summer's protests, Miller announced a change to the department's use of force policy. Deputies are now required to intervene if they see a colleague using excessive force.

Others are reading: Former Buncombe sheriff's deputy charged with child abuse was licensed foster parent

More: NC Health and Human Services reviews foster care license of former Buncombe deputy, wife

The sheriff is currently grappling with deaths of people who have died while in custody of the Buncombe County Detention Center, the management ofwhich Miller oversees.The family of Jacob Biddix, who collapsed inside the jail in July 2020 and was declared dead soon after, has saidMillersoffice failed to communicate with them for nearly a year after his death.

No debates are scheduled yet, but both Fox and Hurley have expressed interest in debating Miller.

Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven is the cops and courts reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at cdonnellyderoven@citizentimes.com, follow her on twitter @plz_CLARify, or send her a text 828-616-0742.

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Who are the candidates running for Buncombe County sheriff in 2022? - Citizen Times