GOP primary emerges for Davidson sheriff
Dec. 23—DAVIDSON COUNTY — A retired top officer with the N.C. State Highway Patrol, who's also a former police chief for a Piedmont town, will run against Sheriff Richie Simmons and set up a Republican primary next year.
Mike James, who lives in the southern part of the county around High Rock Lake, is making his first bid for elected office. Simmons is seeking his second four-year term. Both men made formal announcements about their campaigns earlier this month.
James told The High Point Enterprise that he plans to campaign on his decades of experience in law enforcement, the need for better leadership in the Davidson County Sheriff's Office and quicker response times by deputies after calls for service.
James touts his 41-year career in law enforcement, which includes 28 years with the Highway Patrol, where he retired in 2009 as a major and director of troop operations across the state. James then served as police chief in Spencer for 11 years before retiring Dec. 1 to concentrate on his sheriff's campaign.
James said that he believes leadership is missing from the sheriff's office, as reflected in the staff openings in the department from the departure of deputies and other personnel. One outcome of that is what James contends are lagging response times after calls for service.
"People don't have confidence that they will see a deputy after they make a 911 call," James said.
Simmons intends to run on his record of what he says are marked improvements in the sheriff's office during his term. Simmons referred The Enterprise to remarks he made earlier this month at an event where he was endorsed by sheriffs in the Piedmont and other regions of North Carolina.
Simmons touts his 35 years of law enforcement experience, which he said has allowed him to serve and protect residents of Davidson County. Simmons said the sheriff's office has built law enforcement relationships with municipal police departments within the county and other sheriff's offices for cases that reach across multiple jurisdictions.
On his reelection campaign website, Simmons touts the sheriff's office crackdown on narcotics trafficking and sweepstakes parlors.
The Davidson County Sheriff's Office has received national attention because of a deputy's involvement in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Fred Cox Jr. of High Point.
The deputy shot Cox during a chaotic scene outside an east High Point church in November 2020 when assailants in vehicles fired at mourners gathered for a memorial service of a slain teenager. Davidson County deputies were at the service to support the family of the slain teenager, whose body was found dumped off a county roadway in the fall of 2020.
Nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the Cox family, which is seeking to have the deputy charged in Cox's death.
When asked about the Cox case by The Enterprise, James said the fatal shooting reflects what he says is a troubling escalation of use of force during Simmons' time in office.
"There have been a lot of use-of-force instances, which is concerning," James said.
Simmons has been limited in what he has said publicly about the Cox case because of outside investigations by the State Bureau of Investigation and Guilford County District Attorney's Office.
A Guilford County grand jury declined to indict anyone earlier this year in the shooting. Simmons has told The Enterprise that the loss of life was tragic.
The challenge by James for Davidson County sheriff means that all three local sheriff's races in 2022 will be contested.
First-term Democratic Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers faces at least one primary challenger. Five Republicans have announced campaigns to seek the GOP nomination to go up against Rogers in the general election. First-term Republican Randolph County Sheriff Greg Seabolt faces at least three GOP primary challengers.
Party primaries will take place May 17 with the 2022 general election on Nov. 8.
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
