The race for Stutsman County Sheriff got a little tighter after Tuesday's June primary and one of the three candidates will not be moving onto the November 9 general election ballot.
Deputy Chad Kaiser collected the most votes with 1,919, while current sheriff Dave Orr collected 1,417 votes. Gary Bitz will not advance having collected only 1,028 votes.
Kaiser had two words he used to describe beating out Orr, "great" and "unexpected."
"I didn't think it'd go like that, I don't know what to say I guess," he said.
Kaiser carried all six city precincts and four of the six rural precincts.
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He said his respect remains strong for his boss, Orr.
"Dave has done great for all of us," Kaiser said. "I can't say anything wrong about Dave."
Orr has been sheriff for 32 years and said he is used to the primary elections.
"We're just going to have to keep plugging away here and keep doing my job," Orr said of the Nov. 2 election.
Both candidates said operations at the Stutsman County Sheriff's Office are going smoothly and little will change at the department.
"We've got a good department, we got good people, we do our job and everything is in good shape," Orr said.
Sun reporter Ben Rodgers can be reached at 701-952-8455 or by e-mail at brodgers@jamestownsun.com
