• What Happened: Arkansas father Aaron Spencer, awaiting trial for murdering the man accused of raping his teenage daughter, just won the Lonoke County Republican sheriff primary with 53.5% of the vote.
  • Why It Matters: Spencer found his 13-year-old daughter in a car with 67-year-old Michael Fosler, who was out on bail facing 40+ child sex crime charges, and shot him dead. The system let the predator walk. Spencer made sure he couldn't hurt anyone else.
  • Bottom Line: In a county Trump won with 76%, voters just made a murder defendant their next sheriff. His trial date hasn't even been set yet.

Lonoke County, Arkansas just sent a message the rest of America heard loud and clear.

Aaron Spencer, an Army veteran and father awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge, won the Republican primary for county sheriff Tuesday with 53.5% of the vote, crushing 13-year incumbent Sheriff John Staley, who received just 26.5%. A third candidate split the remaining votes. Spencer will face Democrat Brian Mitchell Sr. in November.

The case that launched his campaign began on October 8, 2024. Spencer woke to find his 13-year-old daughter missing from her bed. He searched the neighborhood and found her in a car with 67-year-old Michael Fosler. Spencer chased the car, ran it off the road, and shot and killed Fosler. At the time of his death, Fosler was out on bail facing more than 40 child sex crime charges involving Spencer's daughter. Spencer's wife described their daughter as having been "targeted, groomed, and ultimately raped by the boyfriend of a family friend."

Spencer was charged with second-degree murder. Rather than quietly wait for trial, he decided to run against the sheriff whose deputies arrested him.

"I'm the father who acted to protect his daughter when the system failed," Spencer said when he announced his campaign. His message was simple: a predator got out on bail for the price of a lawnmower. The system let it happen. And when the system failed, a father did what the system wouldn't.

Voters in one of Arkansas's most conservative counties didn't flinch. Trump won Lonoke County with nearly 76% of the vote in 2024. On Tuesday, they gave Spencer a result that wasn't close.

His pre-trial hearing is scheduled for March 18, and a trial date has not yet been set. Under Arkansas law, a murder conviction would bar Spencer from taking office. But for now, the Republican nominee for Lonoke County Sheriff is a father who decided that protecting his daughter was worth everything that came after.

"Lonoke County sent a clear message last night," Spencer said Wednesday. "I'm running to restore accountability and integrity to the Sheriff's Office, and the people of this county just showed they want the same thing."

As a parent, there's not a jury in America that could convict this man in my eyes.