Summit County Sheriff’s Office detective Eric Mainord has ended his campaign for Wasatch County sheriff.
Mainord, who was set to participate in a sheriff’s candidate forum Wednesday evening, announced his withdrawal the same day as the event.
Though Mainord firmly asserted that he is the best candidate for the job, he said his further participation in the race would “take votes away” from who he assumes to be the frontrunners — Wasatch County’s Emergency Management Director Jeremy Hales and Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby.
“I’ve never aspired for title and position. I legitimately entered this race to be a change agent, and I haven’t taken this lightly,” Mainord said. “I do believe that a real change is needed (at the Sheriff’s Office) and that, unfortunately, if both Jeremy and I stay in it, then we’re going to split the vote.”
Mainord said that he is not fully endorsing Hales — yet. He said that, despite his qualms with goings-on at the Sheriff’s Office, Hales will still have to work to get Mainord’s official stamp of approval.
His main focus, Mainord said, is public safety.
“The things that have gone on … they can’t keep happening,” Mainord said. “I care about public safety. I care about, first of all, preventing crime where possible but, more importantly, justice for victims.”
Mainord said he has not made it a secret that a “galvanizing event” for him was the 2024 road rage shooting at Ross Creek, which left Hideout resident Patrick Hayes shot and killed by Greg Kyle DeBoer.
DeBoer is currently facing one count of obstruction of justice for burying the gun he used to shoot Hayes.
“There needs to be some real cultural change at the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office, and I feel like I understand what that looks like,” Mainord said. “Summit County is a high-functioning, fair and impartial agency and law enforcement, above any other kind of thing out there, has to be truth seekers.”
Mainord’s assertion that he would “split the vote” is not entirely unexpected.
At the Wasatch County Republican Party nominating convention in April, more than 250 party members gathered to select their chosen nominees. The nearly 90% quorum found Rigby as the top vote-getter after two delegate voting processes.
The two processes were necessary because no candidate secured 60% vote in favor of after the first round of voting. Rigby earned 115 ballots during the second vote, and Hales earned 104. Mainord was removed from consideration after the first round, though he still qualified for the primary election ballot.
After announcing his withdrawal from the race, Mainord said he is not sure what the future holds.
“This is my first kind of dabble in politics, and I’ve learned a lot of lessons,” Mainord said. “I’m going to focus on doing the best job I can do at Summit County and see what opportunities present themselves here in Wasatch, to be a person that helps change things for the better.”
Both Rigby and Hales are campaigning for Wasatch County sheriff.
The two candidates are set to participate in a candidate forum on Wednesday evening to answer questions about their platforms, how they would operate as sheriff and about public safety in Wasatch County.
The Wasatch Record and KPCW reporters will moderate the forum. Candidates will answer questions from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Wasatch County Senior Center.
Hales and Rigby will both appear on the primary election ballot on June 23. Ballots will be mailed to registered Republican voters on June 2. The primary election winner will face unaffiliated sheriff’s candidate Paul Moore in the general election this November.