For the third election season in a row, Edison Edison and Homer “Gator” DeLoach are competing for Putnam County’s top law enforcement position.
On Nov. 5, one candidate will become the next Putnam County sheriff.
DeLoach, who has maintained the role of sheriff for eight years, revealed his plan on Oct. 25, 2023, to run again.
“We’re not done yet!” DeLoach announced on his Facebook page.
According to the county’s supervisor of elections, Edison filed his intent to run again on April 13, 2023. The office’s data also confirmed previous election results, which showed Edison losing 15,869 to 995 in 2016 and again losing by a margin of about 4 to 1 in 2020.
DeLoach said his main goal when running for office is to leave the department in better shape than when he found it.
“I've worked at the sheriff's office since 2001, and this is home to me,” DeLoach said. “I just wanted an opportunity to give back and contribute to a community that's been so good to me.”
The two candidates have a few stances that overlap. According to a WUFT report in 2016, Edison said he supported everyone’s rights to bear arms.
“It don’t matter if you have 30 or 40 [guns], that don’t bother me," he said at the time.
DeLoach expressed a similar appreciation for this constitutional right.
“I am very pro-Second Amendment,” he said. “I have been for my entire life. I grew up hunting and fishing, and it’s something that I'm very passionate about.”
Edison twice declined an interview with WUFT News during the current election but did tell a reporter, “There's many stories in St. Augustine [and] people who need help who really are being hurt by the system.”
Edison also suggested investigating the current justice system in Putnam County rather than discussing the election.
“Ask (the sheriff), why? Are they upholding the constitution?” Edison said, “Everything is so manipulated and screwed up that I don't want to be part [of it].”
On his Facebook page, DeLoach also endorsed state House candidate and friend Judson Sapp. He wrote that Sapp is a “fierce defender of our 2nd Amendment rights (he has quite the gun collection).”
Gun control has become a more prominent topic in Putnam County following the police shooting of 31-year-old Phillip Allen Baldwin, which, according to deputies, was the first officer-involved shooting in the county since 2017.
On July 27, two 911 calls linked to Baldwin — one detailing a carjacking incident and the other describing threats made by an armed suspect — sent deputies to a backyard in Satsuma.
Released body camera footage revealed the moment deputies said Baldwin reached toward his waistband, revealing a firearm.
At this moment, officers fired their guns, and Baldwin was struck several times. Deputies said they immediately began administering CPR, but Baldwin died from his injuries after being transported to HCA Putnam Hospital.
DeLoach commented on the incident during a news conference, stating deputies "tried repeatedly to gain [Baldwin’s] compliance and get him to surrender.”
DeLoach also mentioned deputies tried to use a taser before firing their weapons.
“At the end of the day, we knew we were dealing with an armed carjacking suspect who had just committed a violent crime and victimized a poor, innocent person prior to this,” DeLoach said when reviewing the footage.
A press release was later issued by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and stated all three deputies linked to Baldwin’s death were on administrative leave.
“As law enforcement officers, it's always our goal to preserve life when possible,” DeLoach said during the conference.
DeLoach said in late September that the incident is still under investigation.
In an interview, the incumbent mentioned that since he took office in 2017, there has been a substantial focus on de-escalation training.
According to the 2016 report, Edison said he has seen excessive force from police before and would never allow that as sheriff.
“I just want to become the sheriff of my county and bring some people to justice,” Edison said.
DeLoach’s Facebook announcement to run for another term also addresseda main concern he has for Putnam County.
“While overall crime rates continue to drop, there's one issue that demands our attention: the alarming rise in juvenile crime and violence,” DeLoach said.
He confirmed ongoing progress with the legislature and the secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice to establish an improved system and mentioned a juvenile crime prevention program, allowing children who have committed relatively minor offenses to complete community service and attend educational classes in lieu of criminal prosecution.
“I don't think if you commit some minor indiscretion as a child that that should necessarily follow you around for the rest of your life,” DeLoach said.
He also mentioned his family has affected his stances on issues like juvenile violence and school safety.
“My children attend public school here,” DeLoach said. “School safety and security has been one of our primary focuses since I took office in 2017.”
About five years ago, DeLoach introduced the Guardian Program, which placed trained and armed school employees on Putnam County campuses. According to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office website, the department currently has 60 Guardians in Putnam County schools who “serve as a force multiplier for our deputies in stopping threats to our children.”
Another common topic during election season is drug use, specifically marijuana.
During the 2016 election, Edison told WUFT he thought all drugs should be legalized.
DeLoach took the opposite approach.
“I am personally opposed to the legalization of recreational marijuana,” he said, “because we've seen some of the deleterious effects that it has in other states.”
As Edison and DeLoach enter the last stretches of campaigning, Putnam County community members can begin early voting on Oct. 21.
DeLoach said if he is sworn in January, it will be his ninth year as sheriff.
“This is not a career. It's not a profession. This is truly something that I felt like I was called to do,” DeLoach said. “I love the opportunity to work with, what I believe, are some of the finest men and women in law enforcement in the nation, and it's an honor to serve as sheriff of Putnam County.”