Gleason Ousts Chody In WilCo Sheriff's Race

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — Mike Gleason defeated incumbent Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody on Tuesday night, becoming the first Democrat to hold the top law enforcement job in the county since the 1980s.

According to unofficial vote totals, Gleason secured 152,494 votes (56.06 percent of the vote) to Chody's 119,540 ballots (43.94 percent) in securing the sheriff's post. Gleason will serve a four-year term as sheriff. Before his victory, Gleason spent 24 years at the sheriff's office prior to his 2017 retirement.

The race was closely watched given a series of scandals that had beset the sheriff's office at Chody's helm. In September, the outgoing sheriff was indicted after being accused of destroying evidence in a case involving an in-custody death.

Polls opened in Texas at 7 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m.

Results will be posted as they come in:

Robert Chody: 119,540 ballots (43.94 percent)

Mike Gleason: 152,494 votes (56.06 percent)

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Gleason emerged from retirement to take on Chody following a series of scandals emerging from the sheriff's office. The most recent scandal involves the death of Javier Ambler, a Black man who died while in the custody of Williamson County Sheriff's Office deputies in March 2019 after being stopped for not dimming his headlights as he drove past them.

Ambler's family has retained the services of noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump along with the Austin-based Edwards Law Group in accusing deputies of repeatedly tasing Ambler despite his complaints of an inability to breathe. Cameras for the now-canceled "Live PD" reality show were rolling during Ambler's detention, prompting condemnation from the family's attorneys who claim the deputies acting more aggressively for the benefit of the show's dramatic arc.

Chody was indicted by a grand jury in late September and accused of evidence tampering in connection to the Ambler case.

Amid the string of scandals emanating from the sheriff's office, Chody failed in securing endorsement from any law enforcement agencies in the run up to the election. Scrambling for the imprimatur of endorsement, Chody in late September took to touting his sole endorsement from the so-called Williamson County Sheriff's Law Enforcement Association — without publicly revealing the group comprised his top deputies devising a makeshift in-house organization of sorts, to a fashion, as a previous Patch investigation revealed.

Related stories:

• Concern Swirls Over Newly Formed WilCo Sheriff's Association
• WilCo Sheriff Touts Endorsement From Group Created By Deputies

Gleason spent 24 years at the WilCo sheriff's office before retiring in 2016. In launching his run for the office, the retired cop alluded to the scandals that have swirled around the sheriff's office: "With over 24 years of law enforcement experience in Williamson County, Mike Gleason has the tools and knowledge to protect and serve the community while implementing positive change," his campaign website reads.

Patch spoke to Gleason at a January women's rights rally on the Capitol grounds last year during the early part of his campaign. He outlined some of his goals were he to become sheriff, including cleaning up a toxic culture he suggested is now endemic at the sheriff's office:

Chody first came under a negative spotlight for his refusal to fire one of his commanders who made light of date rape and posted offensive posts suffused with misogyny, racism and homophobia on a personal Facebook page. The commander, Stephen Deaton, took to using "elf on the shelf" dolls to create scenes reflecting his views later posted on his social media page.

By virtue of a Texas lottery win nearly 20 years ago that netted his wife $51.2 million, Chody had a sizable financial war chest utilized to spend on advertising in securing his first term. Four other contenders in the 2016 race — Randy Elliston, Mike Cowie, William Kelberlau and Tony "L.A." Trumps — consequently were far outspent by Chody, who had the luxury of pumping more than half-a-million dollars in campaign expenditures.

The amount Chody spent in securing his first term was greater than the collective expenditures of his four rivals — who had little more than $50,000 apiece — as reflected in campaign reports filed in Williamson County. Most of Chody's campaign money went to high-dollar political consulting firm Murphy Nasica, which boasts on its website that, since its inception, has "...won more campaigns in the regions where we operate than any other firm."

This year was no different. In the latest campaign expenditure report filed last Thursday (Oct. 26), Chody loaned himself $523,645 — in three separate installments from Oct. 1-19 — with another outlay of $23,196 to Murphy Nasica in his quest for a second term. Listed unpaid incurred obligations totaled more than $1.6 million, the lion's share to Murphy Nasica.

By contrast, Gleason reported a mere $12,640 in expenditures during the same reporting period. In the end, the currency of contributions may have yielded a bellwether of the election's outcome than cash on hand: Chody's last report indicated he raised some $2,355 in contributions versus $7,473 raised by Gleason — an amount more than three times that raised by the outgoing sheriff.

Elections totals are total but unofficial tallies from the office of the Williamson County Clerk.