Kane County Picks Nominees For Sheriff's Race

KANE COUNTY, IL – First-term Kane County Sheriff Don Kramer won his party's nomination in the Republican primary, beating out Kevin Tindall, a patrol sergeant and the bomb squad commander with the sheriff's office, on Tuesday night, according to unofficial results. Now, he will be challenged by Ron Hain, a sergeant who has been with the sheriff's office since 2003, in November's general election. Hain beat Willie M. Mayes, Sr., who is a deputy lieutenant and 25-year veteran with the sheriff's office, in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

With all precincts reporting, here is a look at the unofficial voting tallies in the Democratic and Republican primaries for the Kane County Sheriff's race:

Democratic Primary Results

• Ron Hain: 17,719 (55.7 percent)
• Willie M. Mayes, Sr.: 14,070 (44.3 percent)

Republican Primary Results

• Don Kramer: 16,538 (59 percent)
• Kevin Tindall: 11,504 (41 percent)

Addressing Kane County's opioid epidemic was a top issue for candidates leading up to the primary. Kramer has said education is key to preventing future overdoses, according to the Daily Herald. Hain thinks creating in-custody residential treatment locations that are run by the government for non-violent opioid addicts would help address the problem, the Daily Herald reports.

Hain was critical of Kramer's handling of a hostage situation at Delnor Hospital on March 13, 2017, and specifically pointed to the fact that it took Kramer four days until he reached out to the SWAT team member who was shot, according to the Daily Herald. If elected sheriff, Hain said he'd have threat assessments done by a tactical commander at hospitals, schools and other area facilities. The purpose would be to find ways to provide quicker response times during crisis.

• Sheriff Hopefuls Spar Over Handling Of Delnor Hostage Situation

Candidates Bios/Websites

Read more about these candidates on their candidate pages:

• Ron Hain
• Don Kramer

You can watch the video below of a recent League of Women Voters forum on March 8 to learn more about the candidates. The Kane County Sheriff's Office candidates begin their debates around the 1:43-mark on the video below.

Photo caption: (Left) Ron Hain and (Right) Donald Kramer