Incumbent Sheriff Tony Waldrupe will face at least one opponent in the 2026 Sheriff’s Race. Former Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Turner announced on Wednesday that he was entering the race.
Rumors of other candidates filing for the position have been circulating but at this point only Sheriff Tony Waldrupe and Cody Turner have announced.
County Clerk Brandi Parker confirmed today that the filing period for the upcoming elections are from noon on November 3rd and run through noon on November 12th.
Both candidates have released the following statements.
From Candidate Cody Turner:
My name is Cody Turner and I’m running to serve as Lawrence County’s next Sheriff. While I may not originally be from our county, I believe Lawrence County is where I have always belonged. Very shortly after beginning my employment with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 I felt as though I had found my people. I met and served with many amazing people throughout my time in the military, as well as my time in Emergency Medical Services, but nowhere had I met a more genuine group of people than the citizens of our county.
To the absolute horror of any career politician who may read this, I won’t use this letter to tell you all the good things about me. I won’t be writing about the accolades, awards, and accomplishments of my life in order to convince anyone that they should vote for me as their next Sheriff. Instead, I’ll tell you what I’m not. I’m not a politician. I’m not a member of any of the good ole boys clubs and I am not above anyone. I am regular guy. I’m a father that knows how it feels to think you have come up short for your kids. A Veteran who has battled depression. I know what it means to be a husband and an ex-husband due to a failed marriage. I even repeated the seventh grade. I’m the average everyday guy who has suffered failures and made mistakes. I have failed to give grace to those who needed it and learned quickly how that feels when it was not given to me. I’m not special and I won’t try to tell you all the ways my “good guy” qualities mean you should vote for me. What I will tell you is that like so many others my greatest learned lessons have come from my failures and mistakes and it is in those that I hold my real experience.
In May of this year, 2025, I resigned from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office. I stepped away from what I feel is without a doubt my calling due to professional differences I had with the current administration after doing all I possibly could to change things from the inside. I thought that leaving our Sheriff’s Office would allow me walk away from those concerns, I was wrong. The more time that passed the more I felt like I was failing the people of Lawrence County by doing nothing. We have all heard “don’t talk about the problem without providing a solution”, I think if we offer the solutions, we should also be willing to be the ones to implement them. I believe that together, as a team, we can take our Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office from a reactive agency with no vision for the future to a proactive professional law enforcement agency with a vision that secures our county for us and future generations to come. Here is a small part of the steps I believe achieve the vision I mentioned.
Personnel
Problem: Our Sheriff’s Deputies are the backbone of our agency; they are our front line. Our correctional officers are charged with the security and CARE of those in our custody. Why do we have employees that qualify for government assistance? Why do our deputies need to use the off days working at other agencies to make ends meet? That is an undue risk to both our deputies and the public. How much is the safety and security of our people and property worth?
Solution: As Sheriff I would not just be accountable to the people of our county, but to my team. There is a major difference between a leader and a boss. We will prioritize our team members’ mental health, training, and professional development. We will build a training track for our correctional officers that prepares them for transitioning to the patrol sideand build a reputation for hiring our deputies from that program. This will cut down on costly turnover in our jail allowing more resources for better training. To sum up, I will take care of our people so that they can take care of our county.
Communication & Transparency
Problem: The current administration uses silence to give the impression that our Sheriff’s Office has everything under control. I know about these problems firsthand from being employed there. Even if this designed silence was not used in this way, it keeps the public in the dark about how THEIR Sheriff’s Office is operating and how their taxpayers’ dollars are being utilized.
Solution: If I am elected, our team will ensure that every reasonable avenue of communication possible is utilized to keep our citizens informed about their Sheriff’s Office. Case sensitive and protected private information will be safeguarded, but the citizens of our county wonthave to wonder if and how we’re accomplishing our mission. This will also be accomplished through townhall style events where I personally listen and answer to the people I serve.
Budget Problem: The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office has a budget of approximately $3.2 million dollars. I believe that this budget is not being utilized appropriately to best serve the citizens of Lawrence County. The current administration speaks about moving forward, but has actually moved us backward in time by using some of that budget on an obsolete Ford Crown Victoria that is of little to no use to the department. Our deputies have portable radios that are unreliable, which is an officer safety issue. The current administration spends plenty of money at conventions and conferences for room and board for leaders but tells deputies we cannot afford to send them too vital training. We pay over $17,000 dollars toward the salary of a mechanic at the county shop who often is too busy with the county road department’s workload to work on our vehicles.
Solution: Every cent in that budget belongs to the citizens of Lawrence County. We have to prioritize our mission of keeping our people and their property safe and secure. I will not be attending any conventions or conferences that cannot directly support our mission. Providing reliable high quality equipment and training to the men and women who serve as our deputies day and night will be absolutely paramount. I expect and welcome our citizens to hold my spending accountable.
As mentioned above these are a small portion of the changes our county deserves. This writing does not focus on building community and interagency relationships, professionalism, our role in eradicating drugs within our communities, and many other things. If we’re going to continue “moving forward” lets at least have a destination in mind. Feel free to contact me at betterlawco@gmail.com
Sheriff Waldrupe released the follow:
Lawrence County Sheriff, Tony Waldrupe, announced that he will be campaigning for reelection. He stated, “It has been an honor to serve the people of Lawrence County. I ask for your support and vote as I seek a second term as Lawrence County Sheriff.”
Waldrupe has spent thirty years serving as a first responder in Lawrence County. He worked seven years as a fulltime fireman, three years as a dispatcher, and more than twenty years as a law enforcement officer. He added, “I love my job and serving the citizens of Lawrence County.” He was born in Lawrence County and has raised his family there as well. He has been of member of Gethsemane Baptist Church in Walnut Ridge for twenty-one years where he serves as a deacon.
Waldrupe wishes to continue his endeavor to make Lawrence County a safe place to live. He said that he believes “we are making great progress in achieving this goal.” Waldrupe stated that his agency has a good working relationship with other Sheriff’s Offices around the state of Arkansas and that the Lawrence County facility is well respected by the Arkansas Jail Standards Committee and is often used as an example for other detention centers. His plan is to continue working closely with the 3rd Judicial Drug Task Force to combat the sale of illegal controlled substances in and around the county.
Under Waldrupe’s leadership, a strong relationship has been built between the schools of Lawrence County and the Sheriff’s Office. Each school district now has two school resource officers assigned to their campuses to ensure the safety of the children attending. In addition, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office is in its fifth year of offering the Peer Recovery Program. This program has a dedicated team that helps incarcerated men and women overcome their addictions. The team also provides assistance with any other issues these men and women could face upon release. Many who have utilized this program are now productive members of society.
Waldrupe noted that he has a solid relationship built on mutual respect with local court officials and members of the Quorum Court, and he concluded by stating, “I am proud of the accomplishments we have made and am excited to keep moving forward.” He will be the incumbent on the 2026 ballot and is seeking the support of the voters.