Boone County sheriff endorses Blair Murphy in Columbia mayoral race
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey has made a rare endorsement in the Columbia mayoral race.
An email from Blair Murphy’s campaign states that Carey has endorsed him in the April 8 election. This is the second local law enforcement representative to endorse Murphy, who also got approval from the Columbia Police Officers’ Association last month. Murphy has made public safety a focus of his campaign.
A quote attributed to Carey in the news release says that Murphy has served as Carey’s campaign manager since 2004. Carey first won the sheriff’s seat in 2004 and has retained the position as a Democratic candidate since.
The mayoral race consists of Murphy, incumbent Barbara Buffaloe, Tanya Heath and certified write-in candidate Lucio Bitoy. Endorsements for multiple candidates have occurred in the past several months.
The Columbia Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 1055 said at the end of January that it would not make an endorsement after doing so for years, while LiUNA Local 955 endorsed Buffaloe and the lone Third Ward candidate Jacque Sample. The CPOA also endorsed Ron Graves in the Ward 4 race over incumbent Nick Foster.
ABC 17 News has reached out to Carey and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.
