BISBEE — Incumbent Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever beat his Republican challenger Bill Cloud by a margin of about 70 percent to about 30 percent in the Republican primary on Tuesday.

Incumbent Sheriff and Republican nominee Larry Dever

According to unofficial results, Dever received 5,102 votes, compared with 2,247 for Cloud.

“I want to thank my supporters,” Dever said. “A re-election is a heartening experience as well as a humbling experience. It helps you re-establish and reconfirm who you are and what you are about so you can march ahead.”

“You have to give credit to Bill Cloud. He put a lot of effort and a lot of money into this and he did his very best. He just came up short,” he added. “I think there is a reason for that, and it is people still have confidence in our administration and what we are doing.”

Cloud, 39, said he was disappointed with the voter turnout and the outcome.

“I am very proud of my supporters. They put up a good effort. For our first time campaigning, we did a pretty good job,” Cloud said, adding, “I’ll be back in four years.”

Now that Dever, 56, has won the Republican nomination, he will focus his efforts on winning in the general election in November.

Norman Bradley, 65, the lone Democratic candidate, received 4,669 votes, or more than 95 percent. He has stayed in the background during the campaign so far. But he will become more active now the primary is over.

“Clearly this is a stepping stone,” Dever said. “We have a ways to go. Norm ran against me before and I was able to defeat that challenge. I anticipate being able to do that again with the help of the public.”

Dever is serving in his third term as sheriff. He previously was a deputy sheriff for 20 years. Cloud has worked in law enforcement since 1991. He was a state police detective from 1999 until this year.

Cloud resigned in order to run for sheriff, citing state and federal laws that required him to do so.

During the campaign, Dever said he was the better candidate for sheriff because he has more years of experience. Cloud acknowledged Dever’s statement, but said he has not done anything new or different for the department.

Illegal immigration and drug abuse were some of the main issues in the campaign, and those topics came up during a candidate forum in July.

Dever said deputies currently work in cooperation with federal officials to deal with illegal immigrants. Cloud said the Sheriff’s Office needs a better partnership with Border Patrol. Dever said officials will continue to combat drug problems. Cloud said more needs to be done to address methamphetamine and other drug abuse.

The candidates disagreed on the need for a “tent-city” facility at the jail. Cloud said tents would be a short-term solution to deal with overcrowding. Dever, on the other hand, said tents would cost more in the long run, and he would rather build a permanent pod.

On Tuesday, Cloud said: “I have not changed my position on the issues on immigration enforcement and on cost reduction. It is doable. It is just a matter of having the will to do it, which Mr. Dever does not.”

The campaign received new attention last week, when Cloud requested an investigation of five possible prohibited campaign actions of Dever’s re-election campaign.

Dever criticized Cloud for raising the concerns at the last moment in an effort to sway the outcome of the primary election. The County Attorney’s Office reviewed the allegations and decided not to take any further action on them.

“There are still some pending investigations into that,” Cloud said Tuesday. “I will reveal more of that later.”