PHOENIX — The race for Maricopa County sheriff has come to an end on Tuesday, as polls close and the first votes will start to be counted.
Democratic incumbent Paul Penzone is running to keep his seat as the chief law enforcement official in Maricopa County.
Republican Jerry Sheridan is running to take it from him.
Penzone lead the race Wednesday morning at 58% to 42%.
You can see the results for the Maricopa County sheriff election below:
Results are not made official on Election Night. 12 News will primarily use NBC News as our guiding source in reporting results for the presidential election and all other races. We will use The Associated Press in some situations.
Penzone was first elected as sheriff in 2016 when he defeated longtime former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had served for 24 years.
Penzone shut down Arpaio’s infamous Tent City in 2017.
Tent City was an outdoor jail in Maricopa County meant to hold convicted and sentenced prisoners.
Arpaio had described the facility as a “concentration camp.” Temperatures inside the tents would reach well into the triple digits during Arizona summers.
More 12 News coverage of Election Day:
The facility had become a political hotspot for the sheriff’s department, often pointed to as evidence of an Arpaio administration that had gone too far in its policing practices.
Sheridan had served as the chief deputy in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office under Arpaio.
However, he has sought to distance himself from his former boss, telling audiences, “I am not Joe Arpaio.”
Sheridan has accused Penzone of not protecting the sheriff’s deputies enough.
