Douglas County Democratic Party concerned with Sheriff’s race infighting

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – We are about three weeks away from the General Election and Democratic party infighting has Douglas County leadership concerned.

The Democratic primary for Douglas County Sheriff was contentious, and the margin of victory for Greg Gonzalaz was roughly 1,400 votes.

There are two candidates remaining in the discussion for Douglas County Sheriff. Republican Aaron Hanson and Democrat Greg Gonzalez.

But defeated Democratic primary candidate Wayne Hudson is still in the conversation.

“It appears that one, if not both, candidates are covered in controversy-dipped drama and laced in lies. Douglas County, we can do better than that,” Hudson said in a video statement.

Hudson took to social media and choose not to endorse either candidate. He is encouraging voters to write in someone else instead of voting for the candidates on the ballot.

“Surprised and disappointed, yes,” said C.J. King, the Chairman of the Douglas County Democratic Party.

“He hasn’t filed because he can’t. It’s not legal for him to file. Even if he were to get a significant number of write-in ballots it wouldn’t count for anything. My concern is every vote matters. We really need people to vote for the candidate that is going to be the next Douglas County Sheriff.”

Wayne Hudson canceled a scheduled interview with 6 News and instead issued a written statement:

“There appears to be some who mistakenly believe I am asking for votes as a write-in candidate,” the statement read. “I am very familiar with the Nebraska law regarding write-in campaigns. As such, I am not seeking election to the Sheriff’s Office.”

“I have heard from a lot of Douglas County voters feeling uncomfortable about the upcoming election. The purpose of my video statement is to point out to voters that it’s time we stop settling for candidates who may not reflect our values or interests.”

King believes Hudson is hurting the party’s choice for Douglas County Sheriff

“Sure I think the influence he has is mostly with democrats and I think that’s why he’s doing this,” King said. “This was a continuous primary and I think he’s making some accusations now, or taking some actions now. His retribution is what he thinks happened to him in the primary.”

Hudson did not believe that the Douglas County Democrats did enough when he claimed that a canvasser working for Gonzalez was spreading misinformation about him.

“Well one of the things that I do as County Party Chair is I make sure we don’t put the thumb on the scale in the primary,” King said. “It should come down to the voters.”

King says he hates democrats attacking each other in the primary and he reminds voters that every vote matters.

“There’s only two people on the ballot and one of them is going to be the next Douglas County Sheriff.

King believes the infighting in the Sheriff’s race won’t leak over into other races.

On the Republican side of the race for Douglas County Sheriff, Aaron Hanson won easliy, collecting almost four times as many votes as his opponent.