Incumbent Democrat Sally Hernandez has been reelected the Travis County Sheriff as of 8 p.m. on election night, defeating Republican candidate Raul Vargas with 71.3% of the vote, according to KXAN news. 

The Travis County Sheriff serves four-year terms. The sheriff's duties include serving warrants and papers, managing the county’s jail, and enforcing traffic and criminal laws.

Hernandez was first elected sheriff in 2016. She previously served as a deputy with the Office of Travis County Constable Precinct 3 and as chief of investigations in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, according to her campaign website. 

Hernandez trained correctional officers and deputies to de-escalate mental health crises, fought immigration policies to detain immigrants in jail and ended arrests related to minor possession of marijuana charges, according to her campaign website. Hernandez also created a sexual assault unit and led a trained victims services staff to support survivors of sexual assault, according to the website. 

Hernandez’s move to reduce cooperation with federal immigration authorities resulted in conflict with state Republicans, resulting in Senate Bill 4, which requires jails to cooperate with immigration authorities, according to the Austin American-Statesman. 

Hernandez was endorsed by the Statesman Editorial Board, which cited her control of coronavirus spread at the Travis County Jail. As of Oct. 7, 45 of the 771 inmates tested by the sheriff’s office since March tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Statesman.

Vargas is a special ranger in the Peace Officer Commission of the Texas Department of Public Safety and executive director of the Texas Police Association, according to his campaign website. He previously served in the Texas Department of Public Safety from 1986 to 2016.

One of Vargas’s campaign goals is enforcement of federal immigration laws, including upholding ICE detention requests, according to his campaign website. Vargas also supports the Second Amendment, and he believes that law enforcement has an obligation to educate and provide training in preparation for safety threats, according to his website. Vargas also aims to stop violent crime within and outside the homeless community, according to his website. 

Vargas said he was not surprised by the outcome and thought it was an interesting learning experience. 

“I hope that they see and understand the reason I ran and work to make some changes,” Vargas said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Vargas.