Waybourn upsets Anderson in Tarrant County sheriff runoff

A jubilant Bill Waybourn claimed an upset victory late Tuesday night over incumbent Dee Anderson in the Republican runoff for Tarrant County Sheriff.

With all 694 precincts reporting in unofficial returns, Waybourn beat Anderson 54.91 to 45.09 percent. The raw vote count was 17,684 for Waybourn and 14,521 for Anderson.

It was a dramatic reversal from the March 1 Republican primary where Anderson nearly won outright.

“I am absolutely thrilled,” Waybourn said. “I am so humbled. I will try to bring out the vision that we promised to voters.”

Waybourn will face Libertarian candidate Max Koch III in November. No Democrats are on the ballot for sheriff.

“Priority one is going to be the people down there and letting them know we got their back and support,” Waybourn said. “We’ve got to start turning around those morale issues.”

As the returns rolled in earlier in the evening, the excitement grew among Waybourn’s supporters.

“It looks like we’re going to be back to work in a little bit,” Waybourn told supporters at Saljo’s Pizzeria in Pantego.

Waybourn, 56, retired last year after 31 years as Dalworthington Gardens police chief.

Anderson didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Earlier Monday, both Anderson and Waybourn had expressed confidence that the runoff would go their way.

The final totals were only a fraction of the 171,000 votes cast in the March 1 primary when Anderson had 49 percent to Waybourn’s 41 percent.

Waybourn pointed to his endorsements from the Tarrant County Law Enforcement Association, the Fort Worth Police Officers Association and the Arlington Police Association as signs of Anderson’s waning support. The former Dalworthington Gardens police chief trailed Anderson by more than 13,000 votes in the March 1 primary but believed the runoff favored him.

“It won’t be about name recognition this time,” Waybourn said before the vote.

Anderson, who has been sheriff since 2001, had been hopeful the runoff would go his way, noting the support of Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, and said he was expecting a good turnout on Election Day.

But Waybourn expressed confidence since March 1 that the runoff would be different.

Throughout the campaign, Anderson, 60, had said there was no need for a change. The key issues were operating the jail, which passed 15 consecutive annual state jail inspections, overseeing more than 1,600 employees and managing an annual budget of $120 million, he said.

Waybourn said that Anderson was out of touch with rank-and-file employees and that morale in the Sheriff’s Department was the lowest in years.

“If he is not aware of the morale issues in his own department, he is even more isolated than we thought,” Waybourn said earlier in the campaign. “Every law enforcement organization in Tarrant County has endorsed against him.”

Anderson insisted that Waybourn was raising a bogus campaign issue.

“If there was a problem, if there was an issue, it would have bubbled to the surface a long time ago,” Anderson has said. “You don’t have a festering morale issue. What you've got is a small group of people that don’t represent the majority of Sheriff’s Department employees.”

Dueling endorsements

Waybourn’s endorsements included former Gov. Rick Perry, Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams, Tarrant County Commissioner Andy Nguyen, Tarrant County Tax Assessor Ron Wright, Tarrant County District Clerk Tom Wilder and Taya Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle. She served as his campaign treasurer.

Anderson’s supporters included Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson and County Commissioners J.D. Johnson and Gary Fickes.

Before the March 1 primary, the Star-Telegram detailed the 2013 accidental shooting involving Waybourn at a Tarrant County gun range.

In the June 2013 incident, Waybourn injured his hand at the shooting range while he was teaching a concealed handgun license class to an Arlington doctor.

Dalworthington Gardens’ city attorney said he was on the job at the time of the shooting. That meant Waybourn qualified for workers’ compensation.

The city attorney said there was an understanding between the City Council and Waybourn that allowed him to teach CHL classes during the work day. Waybourn had said the issue was raised by Anderson’s campaign, which the sheriff has denied.

Anderson has been criticized for grandstanding in the case of “affluenza teen” Ethan Couch. The attorney for Ethan Couch’s mother, Tonya Couch, questioned Anderson’s behavior during her return to Fort Worth after fleeing to Mexico with her son.

In a February televised debate at the Star-Telegram’s media partner, WFAA, Anderson said that Ethan Couch “represents the worst case I’ve had in the 15 years as sheriff. I’m going to be upfront, very vocal. I’m speaking for those families and those four victims.”

This is the second time Waybourn has challenged Anderson. In the March 4, 2008, GOP primary, Anderson had 61 percent of the vote to Waybourn’s 39 percent.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Waybourn upsets Anderson in Tarrant County sheriff runoff."