By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Final results show Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield won the Nov. 2 election with five percentage points above his challenger, a sergeant in his office.
“The people have decided they want me as their sheriff, so I’m here to serve them another four years,” Mansfield said yesterday after the election was certified.
Steve Mansfield
The people’s choice wasn’t quite so clear on election night, with the initial count giving the incumbent sheriff 51.5 percent of the votes.
Sgt. Ken Cheeseman’s showing took many by surprise as less than three months earlier in the primary, Cheeseman had secured only about about 41 percent of the votes.
Cheeseman yesterday said it was a very interesting, educational and fun experience.
“I just thank all the people that voted for me, that helped and were willing to help,” the Randle Republican said.
Ken Cheeseman
It was a real close race, Cheeseman said. That surprised the first-time candidate for public office a little, since any incumbent sheriff ought to have been able to win by a landslide, he said.
“You’d expect the outcome, if he had the support of his peers, his staff and his organization, it would have been huge, but it wasn’t,” Cheeseman said.
He ran because he knew there were people who wanted change, and hopefully the sheriff heard the message behind the closeness of the race, Cheeseman said.
The final tally gave Mansfield 52.44 percent with 14,887 votes and Cheeseman 47.56 percent with 13,500 votes.
Voter turnout was almost 75 percent, much higher than longtime Lewis County Auditor Gary Zandell had expected. Zandell said he had predicted it would be closer to 68 percent or maybe 69 percent.
There were roughly 31,400 ballots cast in a county with a population of some 74,000 people.
An election year is a time to sort out and talk about differences, said Mansfield, who was first elected to the office five years ago after being appointed almost a year earlier to fill out the term of former Sheriff John McCrosksy.
Mansfield, who calls himself a steward of the office, said the ballot numbers suggested to him some of the public was disenchanted with what they were led to believe were problems between his office and the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, and were thinking they weren’t being served.
“I can assure you that was not the case with the sheriff’s office,” he said.
His people have been confronted with one challenge after another this year, including seven homicides, a days-long search for the victims of a fatal plane crash, and handled it well all despite being down 20 positions, Mansfield said.
“Yet we’re still out there making a positive difference in this county,” he said.
Mansfield said he’s especially pleased that while those who work for him lined up on both sides of the race, it didn’t become so divisive as to affect the sheriff’s office achieving its mission.
“I just go back to, I’m really proud of the people who work here, and how they conducted themselves during the process,” he said.
The Winlock Republican also noted he couldn’t be happier the election resulted in a new prosecutor.
“We’re ready to move on and start this new chapter,” he said.
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See all the final election results here
Read election night news story, “Mansfield leads, but sheriff’s race undecided” here
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