Hughes defeats Elrod, Barnes in Williamson County Sheriff race

Williamson County will soon have a new sheriff after voters elected former Brentwood Police Department Chief of Police Jeff Hughes to take over the county's top law enforcement position.

Hughes earned 14,301 votes, while interim Sheriff Mark Elrod earned 10,839 votes, and WCSO Det. Darren Barnes earned 4,055 votes.

Elrod recently stepped into the role following the retirement of former Sheriff Dusty Rhoades. Rhoades supported Elrod, serving as his treasurer.

“We did this because of y'all,” Hughes told a crowd of supporters at Judge Beans BBQ in Brentwood. “This is why we won.”

Among those supporters were various members of BPD as well as Brentwood city commissioners and a slate of county commissioners.

"Now it's time to get to work,” Hughes said. “I look forward to working with the current administration to ensure a smooth transition.”

“They have a wealth of knowledge, and there are a lot of courageous and quality people inside the sheriff's department. I look forward to getting to know them and work alongside them. Together, hopefully we can and will set a new standard— we’ll fight to reduce violent crime, we'll work to reduce drugs on our streets, and we'll work hard to keep our schools protected," Hughes continued. “We're going to put more deputies on the street, that'll be [the] number one goal.”

“We will closely do a comprehensive review of all the policies, practices and procedures that are in place and make improvements where needed and do the best job that we can for the citizens of Williamson County.”

That race saw its own dose of drama when Elrod called out a Hughes campaign ad that seemingly implied that WCSO school resource officers were not actually stationed at every school.

Elrod held his watch party at the The Skylight bar in The Factory at Franklin. 

“At the beginning of the race when I decided to run for sheriff, like I said then, I discussed this with family and friends, prayed about it a lot, felt like it was the right thing to do,”

Elrod told The News “Tonight, the good Lord has another plan for me, and whatever that plan is, we'll be looking forward to that next adventure.”

While that next adventure is uncertain, what is certain is that Elrod will soon no longer be serving with WCSO.

“I planned on retiring this term with Dusty," Elrod said. "When he decided to retire, that kind of changed my plans a little bit, but I can still retire September the first of this year from the county. So, we'll see what happens between now and then, but I will not continue on with the sheriff's office.”

Elrod also expressed his thanks to his supporters.

“I appreciate all my supporters, my committee, everybody that's been along this [ride] every step of the way with me,” Elrod said. “I apologize to them that we weren't able to pull it off. And I wish Jeff Hughes all the best in the world, and I hope that he can do some really quick learning, because he's gonna have a pretty steep learning curve.”

Barnes attended a collective Williamson County GOP watch party at Mama D’s in Brentwood. There Barnes said that while he was disappointed in the results, he was also happy to earn just over 4,000 votes as a first-time candidate.

“The people decided, they voted what they felt was the right thing to do, and I'm happy with it as long as it's what's best for the county, and what's best for the Sheriff's Office,” Barnes told The News.

“This is not the last that people will see me for sure, because I do believe in the sheriff's office and I do believe in the county.”