For Ada County’s new sheriff, selection this year means election next year
During his interview for the vacant Ada County sheriff position, Eagle Police Chief Matt Clifford said he had recently met with a group of Sheriff’s Office employees and decided that he would run for sheriff in 2024.
Then Stephen Bartlett stepped down unexpectedly, and “my timeline got bumped up,” Clifford said.
Did it ever.
Clifford was appointed Friday by the Ada County commissioners to replace Bartlett, and now he’ll be running for sheriff next year — and then possibly in 2024 as well.
Per Idaho statute, Clifford will serve through the next general election, which is November 2022. He will have to run in the Republican primary in May, should he have an opponent, and then in the November election to try to retain his position.
And according to Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane, a win next year would mean only a two-year term, not a traditional four-year stay. That retains the election schedule, with the 2024 race being for a four-year term.
Clifford said Wednesday that he and a small group of people he’s now in charge of had met to do some “succession planning” when the decision was made on a 2024 run. “We talked to the previous sheriff about that, ironically six days before he retired,” Clifford told the commissioners.
Clifford told the Statesman that he would begin gearing up for his primary run as soon as he’s sworn in. “I’m going to have 10 months to (prepare for) what people plan for for four years,” he said. “I have not made my life any more simple. But I’m in it to win it.”
The Ada County sheriff’s seat has had a long history of previous sheriffs grooming their successors, but Bartlett had been the first one appointed in at least 40 years. He was selected for the position in June 2015 after Gary Raney retired. Bartlett then ran successfully for the seat in 2016 and 2020.
Raney was first elected in 2004 and then re-elected twice. Vaughn Killeen, who said he groomed Raney for years to take his place as sheriff, was first elected to the seat in 1984.
Killeen and Raney both came out in support of Clifford throughout this process.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 4:42 PM.