Incumbent Jailer Brian Lawson easily wins re-election to second term in office

By an overwhelming margin, Whitley County Jailer Brian Lawson garnered 60 percent of the vote in a four-way race to win re-election to a second term as jailer.

Lawson garnered 4,530 votes during Tuesday’s Republican May Primary Election to Stephen Taylor’s 1,588 votes, Brian Kirby’s 914 votes and Curtis Surgener’s 427 votes. Lawson is unopposed in the November General Election.

When asked if he was surprised by the margin of victory, Lawson noted that it is always something you hope for.

When people come out and support you in those numbers, it is just really humbling and I am honored to be able to continue to serve them, and for them to have so much trust instilled in me,” Lawson said Tuesday evening.

Lawson said that he doesn’t think there was one particular thing that made the difference. Rather, he things it was the experience and job that he and his staff have done the past three and one-half years, in addition to the programs that they had implemented, the families they have helped and the people they have been able to touch.

“I have made a lot of life long friends from working up there, and those people mean more to me than they will ever know,” he noted.

Lawson said his campaign slogan throughout the campaign was that he and his staff want to continue the progress that had been made.

“There are more programs that we want to get implemented up there. We want to keep our jail ministry going and just continue to help people and help these people recover from additions, and put them back in society and give them a chance,” he said. “We want to continue to work with these families and build bonds to make Whitley County better.”

Lawson won an 11-way race for jailer four years ago to win his first term in office garnering almost twice as many votes as his next closest opponent.