A 20-year veteran of the Fort Worth Police Department is running to unseat current Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who鈥檚 had a controversial tenure since 2016.
Vance Keyes served in the Marines before becoming a police officer, .
The first goal listed on his platform is to 鈥淧ut an end to the divisive rhetoric and fear mongering tactics of the current administration.鈥�
Waybourn has drawn criticism for his stance on immigration. He volunteered his department for that uses local sheriff's deputes to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detain undocumented immigrants. County commissioners voted to extend the ICE contract in June.
Part of Keyes鈥檚 plan is to end that policy, which is officially called the 287(g) program. At a virtual Q&A Wednesday, he said Tarrant County鈥檚 participation in the program makes it an outlier.
"There are over 12,000 local police agencies in the United States. Over 3,000 sheriff's departments," he said. "And the vast majority of those agencies choose not to have a 287(g) agreement because they realize that it negatively impacts their community."
Former Texas representative and presidential candidate Beto O鈥橰ourke, who joined the Q&A to stump for Keyes, said that negative impact is fear.
"It demonstrably makes us less safe when some significant part of our community fears law enforcement instead of being willing to work with law enforcement," he said.
Last year, Waybourn spoke alongside ICE's director at the White House and defended the agency鈥檚 work. He emphasized what he considers the importance of keeping undocumented inmates with criminal convictions detained.
"If we have to turn them loose or they get released, they're coming back to your neighborhood and my neighborhood," he said. "These drunks will run over your children and they will run over my children."
During the Q&A, Keyes also challenged Waybourn鈥檚 level of experience.
"Not to disparage the city where he worked as a police chief, but it was a very small city of about 2,000 people,鈥� Keyes said.
Waybourn was police chief of Dalworthington Gardens, Texas for 31 years, .
Keyes said his own 20 years of experience policing one of America's biggest cities has prepared him to become sheriff.
Kim Olson, for a North Texas congressional seat, also joined the Q&A to advocate for Keyes. She said winning this race in Tarrant County 鈥� which is unusually conservative for a large Texas county 鈥� is one step to strengthening Democrats in Texas.
鈥淭he point is, we have to tip Fort Worth blue if we鈥檙e gonna have a chance with this state,鈥� she said.
Keyes said although he is running as a Democrat, if he wins, he will operate the department impartially, and with reform and the community鈥檚 interests in mind.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e gonna treat them with equity, and that鈥檚 not a right or a left agenda,鈥� he said.
Tarrant County will vote for sheriff .
