2026年11月2日 美国东部时间下午2:26 | CBS新闻
一切始于一通电话。周二中期选举前几周，一场基层补选运动悄然启动，目的是让任职已久的阿拉巴马州李县警长杰伊·琼斯留任。但在5月激烈的共和党初选中，琼斯以约300票之差被前副警长卡梅伦·亨特击败，就此离任。
李县居民杰克·卡特在接受CBS新闻采访时，回忆起最近的一通电话：“有人发起了这场补选运动，我当时说，‘真的吗？’”
卡特表示，初选结束后，他曾和其他人讨论过尝试写票支持琼斯，但最终没了下文——直到他接到那通电话。他说自己不知道这场运动的幕后推手是谁，而且目前也很难查出来。
一个专门用于这场“补选运动”的Facebook页面留有一个Proton邮箱地址，这是一个加密邮箱账户。CBS新闻记者向该邮箱发送查询，未得到任何回复。
卡特曾是一名副警长，他称琼斯是自己的导师，现在是当地的一名家具制造商。他说自己被引荐给一位持有竞选标语的女士，标语上写着：“选举日，写票支持警长杰伊·琼斯。”不久后，这些标语开始出现在各家院子、皮卡卡车以及当地企业的显眼位置。
他把一块标语贴在黑色公羊皮卡的后车厢，并在网上发了照片。随后，事情便开始“发酵”，他说道。
亨特的支持者指责琼斯阵营是输不起的人，而琼斯的支持者则坚称选民完全有权写票支持任何候选人。社交媒体上的帖子显示，有人从院子里偷走了标语，随之而来的是越来越多的指责和网上的争执。
“事情并没有朝着应有的方向发展，”卡特说，“现场一片混乱。”
琼斯在接受CBS新闻采访时表示，这场基层运动让他“深受感动”，并说：“我没有参与其中，也没有为任何人拉过票。”琼斯想明确自己并未参与，因为他声称，由于这场日益壮大的补选运动，阿拉巴马州共和党曾威胁要将他开除出党。
警长选举与民生问题
虽然国会和全州级别的热门选举是中期选举的焦点，但基层职位竞争往往对塑造人们的日常生活有着更为直接的影响。警长负责确定当地公共安全优先事项，通常掌管监狱运营、预算分配、犯罪响应以及保释管理。
据进步组织“女性捐赠者行动”2020年发布的一份关于警长群体人口统计特征的报告显示，美国的警长绝大多数是白人男性。全国共有3801名警长。在包括科罗拉多州、阿拉巴马州、马里兰州、犹他州和威斯康星州在内的多个州，警长职位由州宪法规定，通常赋予警长广泛的权力，且在许多县，警长可能是当地最受关注、权力最大的职位。
2026年约有1400名警长职位面临选举。全国警长协会（一个支持警长培训、教育和倡导的全国性组织）发言人耶西姆·卡拉曼表示，在20个州，包括科罗拉多州、阿拉巴马州、马里兰州、犹他州和威斯康星州，多数民选警长都要参加此次选举。
“警长负责维持治安，确保与社区保持良好关系，在本县发挥领导作用，回应所服务和选举他们的公民的诉求，”卡拉曼说。
警长还能参与制定区域政策，比如移民执法和枪支管控。2026年的几场中期选举都围绕着与联邦移民当局的合作展开，这种合作被称为“287(g)协议”。在威斯康星州，两个县的选民正直接投票决定当地警长是否配合美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）的工作。
琼斯和亨特在竞选期间就移民、枪支和Flock情报等一系列政策问题存在分歧。琼斯表示，他的办公室经常与ICE合作，但并未签署备忘录，他称外界对这对该县意味着什么存在误解。
他说：“我们配合了收到的来自ICE的任何请求，以及来自当地机构和阿拉巴马州联邦机构的任何请求，这是有记录可查的。过去两年间，我们实际上已将李县监狱的450多名人员移交ICE监管。”
不过，卡拉曼提醒说，警长在移民问题上的权限通常基于州法律。
“警长是否签署287(g)协议、是否有能力与ICE开展广泛合作，这是州法律和地方政治的问题，”她说。
琼斯还表示，他支持延续隐蔽持枪许可证制度，该证件由警长办公室发放，因为这有助于防止枪支落入罪犯手中。（阿拉巴马州法律在2023年修改，不再要求在该州大部分地区携带隐蔽式手枪需持证。）他说自己“完全支持第二修正案”。
亨特则表示，他计划签署287(g)协议，支持公开持枪（称不需要许可证），并公开表示计划终止该县与Flock的合作。他在一封邮件中写道：“我坚决支持第二修正案，认为应该执行移民法，并认识到为执法部门提供保护我们社区所需工具的重要性。”
尽管存在这些分歧，许多警长仍在全国选举中开展竞选且无竞争对手。2024年的数据分析发现，在2022年至2024年的两年间，约62%的警长选举是无竞争的。
在人口为190118人的李县，琼斯已任职超过27年，而且他几乎从未有过对手。
冲突升级后，一场“简单”的基层运动逐渐扩大
这种情况在去年10月底发生了改变，当时时任副警长的亨特请求与琼斯私下会面，宣布他计划挑战琼斯参加共和党初选。
“大约十分钟后，我就被解雇了，”亨特在给CBS新闻的邮件中写道，附件是他的解雇信。“警长琼斯在此时解雇我没有任何法律依据，但他的解雇信明确将我参选的打算列为解雇我的理由。”
琼斯表示，他曾给亨特好几次机会辞去副警长职位。
“留用他本会是无法接受的情况，”琼斯说。已有数起法院判决支持因政治原因解雇副警长。2021年，密苏里州副警长因政治原因被解雇后提起诉讼，联邦上诉法院当时裁定，副警长职位需要政治忠诚度。法院称，警长可以解雇副警长，因为副警长的职位属于需要政治忠诚度才能有效履职的决策岗位。2016年，北卡罗来纳州最高法院维持了解雇拒绝为警长政治竞选捐款的副警长的判决。
在5月初选（结果显示亨特以9301票对8994票击败琼斯）过去一个月后，亨特表示已向阿拉巴马州道德委员会提出正式投诉。他声称，琼斯利用部门GPS定位系统在亨特的私人住宅周围设置了地理围栏，以监控任何访问他家的副警长。阿拉巴马州道德委员会表示无法确认或否认是否存在该投诉。
琼斯称，如果要展开调查，他随时准备“全力配合”。亨特表示，他还将呼吁进行独立调查。
琼斯宣传自己的长期任职，称这为该县提供了稳定性，还让他得以将预算2500万美元的警长办公室从1999年的80人扩大到如今的230人。
他表示希望明确自己尊重5月的选举结果，但如今发生的事是“一场简单、基础的基层运动，由希望在这场选举中拥有选择权的社区成员发起”。
不过，休斯顿大学公共政策教授、《徽章的力量：美国警长与不平等》一书的合著者米尔娅·R·霍尔曼表示，李县的这场选举实属罕见。
“任何职位（包括警长）的长期现任者输掉初选，都非常不寻常，”她在一封邮件中写道。“补选运动是一个巨大的未知数——它们在任何职位（包括警长）的选举中都极少获得成功。”
但她表示自己不知道有任何跟踪补选运动的数据。（纽约州奥斯威戈县有一位候选人正在开展警长补选运动，但此前并未担任过该职位。华盛顿州一场成功的补选运动让一位候选人登上了警长选举的选票。）
一些支持琼斯补选运动的选民指出，两位候选人在政策上存在分歧。在保守的李县居住了35年的自称为“自由派”的黛布拉·贝尔表示，她正在为琼斯奔走并支持他，因为琼斯经验丰富。
她列举了琼斯的枪支安全教育项目和他对枪支许可证的立场，作为支持他的主要原因。支持者查德·拉尼尔补充说，虽然琼斯的经验是他的首要考虑，但他也希望避免联邦人员在该县过度出现。
亨特表示，他并不担心补选运动，而是专注于自己承诺的事项，以便明年1月就职后能兑现这些承诺。
“我的名字将出现在11月3日选票上的唯一警长候选人，我尊重每个人参与民主进程的权利，包括他们投出补选票的权利，”亨特说。
在这一点上，两人达成了一致。琼斯表示，这次选举完全关乎人民的意愿。
“毕竟，这就是被服务的对象，”他说，“他们的选择才是最重要的。”
“警长对人民负责，”琼斯说。
A sheriff defeated by 300 votes, a write-in campaign and an Alabama county divided: “It’s chaotic”
November 2, 2026 / 2:26 PM EST / CBS News
It began with a phone call. A grassroots write-in campaign had been launched weeks before Tuesday’s midterm election in an effort to keep longtime Alabama Sheriff Jay Jones in office. Jones was ousted in May by about 300 votes in a bitterly fought Republican primary in Lee County by a former sheriff’s deputy, Cameron Hunt.
“Somebody has started this write-in campaign,” Lee County resident Jack Carter said, recalling his recent phone conversation, in an interview with CBS News. “And I said, really?”
Carter said he had spoken with others about trying to write in their votes for Jones after the primary, but nothing ever materialized — until he got that phone call. He said he didn’t know who was behind the campaign, and it’s challenging to find out.
A Facebook page dedicated to the “write-in campaign” lists a Proton email address, which is an encrypted account. A query to the email address from a CBS News reporter went unanswered.
Carter, a former sheriff’s deputy — who said Jones was a mentor — and now a local furniture maker, said he was directed to a woman with access to campaign signs reading, “On Election Day write in Sheriff Jay Jones.” Soon, the signs began popping up across yards, pickup trucks and local businesses.
He placed one in the back of his black Ram pickup truck and posted a picture online. Then, things began to “blow up,” he said.
Supporters of Hunt accused Jones’ camp of being sore losers, while Jones’ supporters insisted voters have every right to write in any candidate they choose. Social media posts captured signs being stolen from yards, accompanied by mounting accusations and online bickering.
“This has not gone the way that this needs to go,” Carter said, adding, “It’s chaotic.”
Sheriff Jones said he was “humbled” by the grassroots campaign in an interview with CBS News, saying, “I was not involved and nor have I solicited anyone for votes.” Jones wanted to make clear he isn’t involved, as he claims the Alabama Republican Party threatened to remove him from the party because of the growing write-in campaign.
Sheriff elections and quality-of-life issues
While congressional and marquee statewide races dominate midterm headlines, down-ballot contests often play a far more direct role in shaping people’s daily life. A sheriff sets local public safety priorities and typically oversees jail operations, budget allocation, response to crime and bail management.
Nationally, sheriffs are overwhelmingly White and male, according to a 2020 report released by a progressive group, Women’s Donor Action, examining sheriff demographics. There are 3,801 sheriffs in the country. In several states, the office is established by the state constitution, often allowing for broad authority — and for many counties the sheriff might be the most visible and powerful position around.
There are about 1,400 sheriffs up for election in 2026. In 20 states, including Colorado, Alabama, Maryland, Utah and Wisconsin, most of the elected sheriffs are up for the vote, according to Yesim Karaman, a spokesperson at the National Sheriffs’ Association, a national organization supporting training, education and advocacy.
” They’re policing, they’re making sure that they have the good community relationships, they have the leadership in their counties, and they’re responding to the citizens that they serve and who they’re elected by,” said Karaman.
Sheriffs can also help shape regional policies such as immigration enforcement and gun control. Several 2026 midterm contests feature debates over partnerships with federal immigration authorities, known as 287(g) agreements. In Wisconsin, voters across two counties are weighing in directly on their local sheriffs’ cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Jones and Hunt differed over various policy issues in their campaign, including immigration, guns and Flock intelligence. Jones said his office has often cooperated with ICE, but doesn’t have a signed Memorandum of Understanding. He said there is misinformation around what this means for the county.
“We have cooperated with any request we received from ICE, from the local agencies here and federal agency offices in the state of Alabama, to actually, and this is on record, in the last two years, we’ve actually transferred over 450 individuals to ICE custody from the Lee County Jail,” he said.
However, Karaman cautioned that sheriffs’ immigration abilities are often based on state law.
“Whether a sheriff signs a 287(g) agreement and has the ability to cooperate extensively with ICE is a matter of state law and local politics,” she said.
Jones also said he supports the continuation of concealed carry permits,which are issued by the sheriff’s office, because it helps keep guns out of the hands of criminals. (Alabama law changed in 2023 to no longer require a permit to carry a concealed handgun in much of the state.) He said he’s in “full support of the Second Amendment.”
Hunt said he plans to sign a 287(g) agreement, supports open carry laws saying a permit isn’t needed, and said publicly that he plans to end the county’s Flock contract. He wrote in an email, “I strongly support the Second Amendment, believe immigration laws should be enforced, and recognize the importance of providing law enforcement with the tools necessary to protect our communities.”
Notwithstanding the issues, many sheriffs are still running in nationwide races uncontested. A 2024 data analysis found that over a two-year period from 2022 to 2024, about 62% of sheriff elections were uncontested.
In Lee County, which holds a population of 190,118 people, Jones has been in office for more than 27 years — and he’s rarely had an opponent.
A “simple” grassroots effort grows after an escalating feud
That changed late last October when Hunt, a deputy sheriff at the time, requested a private meeting with Jones to announce his plan to challenge him in the Republican primary.
“Within approximately ten minutes, I was terminated,” Hunt wrote in an email to CBS News, attaching a copy of his termination letter. “There was no legal requirement for Sheriff Jones to terminate me at that point, yet his termination letter specifically cited my intention to run against him as the reason for terminating me.”
Jones said he gave Hunt several chances to resign from his deputy position.
“It simply would’ve been an untenable situation” to keep him, Jones said. Several courts have upheld the firing of deputy sheriffs for political reasons. A federal appellate court found in 2021 — when Missouri deputies sued after they were fired for political reasons — the position of deputy sheriff requires political loyalty. The sheriff can fire deputies because they hold policymaking positions for which political loyalty is necessary for effective job performance, the court said. In 2016, North Carolina’s Supreme Court upheld the firing of sheriff’s deputies who declined to donate to the sheriff’s political campaign.
A month after the May primary — where results showed Hunt defeating Jones by 9,301 to 8,994 votes — Hunt said he filed a formal complaint with the Alabama Ethics Commission. He alleges the sheriff used a departmental GPS tracking system to set up a geofence around Hunt’s private residence to monitor any deputies visiting his home. The Alabama Ethics Commission said it couldn’t confirm or deny that the complaint exists.
Jones said if there is to be an investigation, he stands ready to “cooperate fully.” Hunt said he is also going to call for an independent investigation.
Jones touted his length of service, which he says has provided stability for the county and allowed him to grow the sheriff’s office, which has a budget of $25 million, from 80 people in 1999 to 230 people today.
He said he wanted to make clear he respected the outcome in May, but what was happening now was “a simple, basic grassroots effort by the members of the community who want a choice in this effort.”
Still, the race in Lee County is rare, said Mirya R. Holman, a public policy professor at the University of Houston, and co-author of the book “The Power of the Badge: Sheriffs and Inequality in the United States.”
“It is very unusual for longtime incumbents in any office (including sheriff) to lose primaries,” she wrote in an email. “Write-in campaigns are a big unknown — they are very rarely successful for any office, including sheriffs.”
But she said she doesn’t know of any data tracking write-in campaigns. (In Oswego, New York, a candidate is running a write-in campaign for sheriff, but never served in the position. In Washington, a successful write-in campaign propelled a candidate onto the sheriff ballot.)
Some voters supporting the write-in campaign for Jones pointed to the differing policies between the two candidates. Debra Beil, a self-proclaimed “liberal” who has lived in conservative Lee County for 35 years, said she was organizing for and supporting Jones because of his experience level.
She cited his educational programs on gun safety and his stance regarding gun permits among her primary reasons for supporting him. Supporter Chad Lanier added that while Jones’ experience was his primary consideration, he also preferred to avoid a heightened presence of federal agents in the county.
Hunt said he’s not particularly worried about the write-in campaign and instead remains focused on the commitments he’s made to the people of Lee County when he prepares to take office in January.
“I’m the only candidate for sheriff whose name will appear on the November 3 ballot, and I respect everyone’s right to participate in the democratic process, including their right to cast a write-in vote,” Hunt said.
In that area, the two agree. Jones said this vote is all about what the will of the people is.
“After all, that’s who’s being served here,” he said. “And their choice should be what matters.”
“The sheriff answers to the people,” Jones said.
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