As of midnight Tuesday, Robert "Bob" Norris was poised to become Kootenai County's newest sheriff.

He led with 29,838 (63.85%) votes. Mike Bauer, an independent, was second with 12,592 (26.94%) votes, while libertarian Justin Nagle trailed with 4,303 (9.21%) votes.

In what was one of the most contentious races this year, Norris has been a front-runner for the sheriff position, winning endorsements from the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee and Kootenai County Deputy Sheriff Association.

It was also one of the longest races, reaching back more than two years when Sheriff Ben Wolfinger announced he would not seek re-election in 2020.

Norris, who won the four-way Republican primary back in May with 44.2% and 9,931 votes, now has dreams of advancing the Sheriff's Office into a new state of efficiency.

"I'm humbled by the amount of support, from the lieutenant governor to the 9,931 people that voted for me in the primary," Norris said Tuesday night.

With 30 years of law enforcement experience with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office, Norris said he's learned how to assess the needs of citizens and to protect the community effectively.

It's been a wild ride for Norris, who has had to tackle fake websites, imposters, unproven accusations of tax evasion and criminal offenses. Yet, his faith never wavered. Despite it being an election like no other, which jumped the hurdles of a global pandemic, socio-political unrest, and a historic number of registered voters, Kootenai County residents pushed Norris to the top.

"I have run a positive campaign based on experience and platform," Norris said. "It's unfortunate that other candidates and other former candidates have decided to divide this community and tarnish the men and women of the Kootenai County Sheriff Office."

Norris plans to hold a series of town halls throughout the community to address the concerns and issues residents have concerning KCSO and the county's general state. Next, Norris wants to personally meet with every KCSO department, opening up communication lines with staff to discern how the organization can better serve all 161,505 county residents.

"My platform from day one has been to address growth, fighting the Kootenai County prison release center, and protecting your rights," Norris said. "As your sheriff, I will be able to manifest my campaign into a reality for all Kootenai County citizens.'

Compared to the primary, which processed 32,800 absentee ballots, the Kootenai County Elections Office counted over 51,000 by midnight November 3.

Mike Bauer, the presumed runner-up, said he'd been a registered Republican his whole life but marked himself as an Independent due to his belief that the criminal justice system should not be run by a political party. While he was not chosen for the position is thankful for the opportunity to run for office and intends to stay active in Kootenai County law enforcement.

"I would like to thank all my supporters and all the wonderful people I've met during this," Bauer said. "I will do whatever I can to help him be successful, but I will, however, closely watch his performance. I will be his greatest support and critic if I disagree with how he does his job."

Justin Nagel echoed Bauer's sentiments, who hopes that after this election, KCSO and local law enforcement officials will reflect on the needs of Kootenai County and propel into a better future. Nagel, a Libertarian and life-long Kootenai County resident, hopes that he and Norris can still work together to improve KCSO's operations despite his loss.

"When I started running, I called Bob Norris and Bauer, and we talked about the corruption of the Sheriff's Office. We all know it's there," Nagel said. "To better the community, I'll go down and have a talk with him about some of the things we can do that change that."

Norris, who ran his campaign on the premise of law and order, believes that if elected, he and local officials have the opportunity to reduce incarceration rates by being tough on crime. At this time, he has not officially selected an undersheriff. However, he plans to keep the current titleholder, Dan Mattos, during a four-to-six month transitional period. After this, Norris plans to use his new knowledge of the day-to-day operations of KCSO to select a worthy replacement.

"I'm thankful for everyone, my wife, my daughters, and friends," Norris said. "It's been quite a journey."