San Diego County’s appointed Sheriff, Bill Gore, has avoided a run-off by winning a solid 57 percent of the vote.
Gore was appointed by the County Board of Supervisors after long-time Sheriff, Bill Kolender, retired. Gore, a former FBI chief, was Kolender’s hand picked successor.
Gore’s opponents, Jay LaSeur - a former undersheriff - and Jim Duffy - the son of a previous sheriff - were both in favor of tougher sheriff deputy enforcement of immigration laws. They also wanted to give citizens easier access to concealed weapons permits. Gore disagreed with those priorities
"My job as the sheriff of San Diego is to enforce state law, the state law in California is not Arizona law, it’s not Nevada law, it's not one of the 38 states that are shell issue states when it comes to carrying concealed weapons. My job is to enforce the California law as it’s written."
Gore says he personally does not support Arizona’s new immigration strategy. He says sheriff’s deputies should work closely with the border patrol, rather than enforcing immigration laws themselves .