Republican T.K. Waters and Democrat Lakesha Burton both earned enough votes Tuesday night to advance to a November runoff in the special election for Jacksonville’s sheriff.
Waters was endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and is a former chief of investigations at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He was the sole Republican in the race. He led the field with about 47% of the vote, as of 7:50 p.m..
Burton, a former assistant chief at the agency, was one of four Democrats running, and she earned about 33% of the vote.
Democrat Ken Jefferson, who previously ran in 2015 and 2011 and was a crime analyst for News4Jax until jumping in the race, earned 14% of the vote. Fellow Democrats Wayne Clark and Tony Cummings each earned about 3% of the vote.
Because no one got a majority of the vote, Duval County voters will get a second chance to vote on Nov. 8.
The special election was called after former Sheriff Mike Williams resigned after The Tributary revealed he had moved out of the county in violation of city law.