Nearly two thirds of primary voters did not want to give Sheriff Eric Flowers a second term, but in a three-way race, he had enough support from the Republicans who voted to squeak through to a less than impressive re-election victory.
Flowers watched returns come in late Tuesday at the Sheriff’s headquarters and then spoke to reporters after it was apparent that he won with a scant plurality of the vote.
It marked the first time in at least two decades that an Indian River County sheriff was elected without the support of a solid majority of the electorate.
When asked if he would do anything differently, or engage in more public outreach following a race where 63 percent of voters chose someone other than him, Flowers said, “We’ve done a fantastic job with public outreach, we’ve reached out to everyone. The majority of people made the decision that they want me as Sheriff, and I won the election tonight.”
Actually, a majority of people – 63.6 percent, to be precise – did not want him to continue as sheriff.
Flowers prevailed with 36.64 percent of the vote to 31.92 percent for Keith Touchberry and 31.44 percent for Milo Thornton. And among voters who went to the polls on Tuesday to cast an Election Day ballot in person, Touchberry and Thornton combined outpolled Flowers by more than a 2-to-1 margin.
In fact, Fellsmere Police Chief Touchberry beat Flowers by more than 250 votes in the Election Day balloting.
The result was a major comedown from Flowers’ first run for Sheriff in 2020, when he won a four-way contest with an impressive 62 percent of the vote.
Thornton, who retired from the Indian River Sheriff’s Office to run against his former boss, said he took the fact that Flowers received less than 37 percent of the vote at face value.
“There are a lot of people who do not want him (Flowers) here. There are a lot of people who do not want him leading our community,” Thornton said.
Thornton was part of Flowers’ command staff and was in charge of jail operations, and later, school security before retiring with full pension benefits. In the wake of the election results, Thornton remained grounded, grateful and hopeful.
He lavished thanks on “everyone who showed up at the polls and supported me. When you put your name out there in a race like this, you never know what you’re going to get, but people were incredible and amazing in how they treated me.”
He acknowledged that there were some dirty tactics and a good amount of mud was slung in the primary contest, but he mostly shrugged off the criticism. “I’m disappointed, but not defeated. I’m tough. I was raised by a tough mother,” he said.
What’s next for Thornton? “I don’t know. There’s always been opportunities for me in this field and other fields. I’m excited about finding out what’s next,” he said. “I’m a very spiritual person so it’s up to God, it’s God’s plan. It’s his will, not mine.”
“I’m far from done,” Thornton said.
Throughout this hotly contested primary, it was tough to find a block or neighborhood that was neutral in the Republican race for sheriff, as the campaign signs seemed more plentiful, and bigger this year but in the end it all came down to less than 1,300 votes between Flowers, and runner-up Touchberry.
Based upon the election-night results, which had not yet been broken down by precinct, Touchberry seemed to attract the same election day voters who supported the more conservative school board candidates, as they also performed particularly well in “game day” voting. That’s not surprising, as Touchberry ran on a platform of being a fiscal conservative who would not only keep Indian River County safe, but also be a good steward of taxpayer dollars.
Touchberry was not able to be reached for comment Tuesday night, but prior to the election he told Vero Beach 32963 that, if elected, he would be willing to establish an audit committee of community members to take an objective look at the Sheriff’s books and advise him if anything needed to be corrected or tightened up.
Property Appraiser Wesley Davis did this when he took over from nearly three decades of David Nolte serving as property appraiser, to get a fresh set of eyes on the finances.
A stable family man with traditional values and a military veteran, Touchberry offered a strong alternative for conservative voters who were turned off by the scandal-ridden first term of Flowers, and sought a sheriff who would bring honor to the office. There just weren’t enough of those voters to tip the scales in Touchberry’s favor – this time.
