“I know where two big deep holes are here if you ever need them,” a voice in the room said, referring to local newspaper reporters. Another joked about a woman who died in a fire, comparing her burned body to barbecue. “I’m hungry!” he said. “I’m talking about taking ’em down to ol’ mud creek and hanging them up with a damn rope,” another said about hanging Black people.

This conversation between McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy and other county officials, secretly recorded in March 2023 and published by the McCurtain Gazette-News in April, placed the southeast Oklahoma county under a national spotlight.

Clardy did not resign and ran for re-election. The incumbent Republican lost by a large margin in the Tuesday, June 18, primary.

Two Republicans ran against Clardy, Bruce Shirey and Jason Ricketts.

According to unofficial primary election results released by the Oklahoma State Election Board, Shirey earned 49.43% of the vote, Ricketts 32.31%, and Clardy 18.26%.

Shirey and Ricketts will compete in a runoff in August to determine who faces Democratic candidate Steve McKee, former McCurtain County reserve officer, Idabel police department special emergency response team officer, and business owner, on the November ballot.

“We weren’t gonna let it be swept under the rug,” said Valliant-born resident Lonnie Watson, who helped initiate the McCurtain County Movement, an advocacy group that formed against the sheriff.

Frustrations with the sheriff were compound- ed for some at a bipartisan debate held on June 13. When confronted about the audio and his role in the remarks, Clardy didn’t apologize. Instead, he claimed that according to federal investigators, it was altered.

“That was his chance to make amends so to speak and of course, he tiptoed,” Watson said.

Some said the recording wrongly overshadowed Clardy’s achievements as sheriff. Resident and business owner April Roberts interacts with Clardy’s deputies in her store regularly and said she has seen and heard of many of his accomplishments. She voted for Clardy and cited his expansion of the force and commitment to tackling drug-related crimes as examples of his successes. For her, increased transparency through communication with the public was where Clardy needed to improve.

Oklahoma Watch contacted Clardy for comment via phone and email after the debate but he did not respond.

Following the recording’s publication, Clardy ignored calls to resign, including from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

“I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County,” Stitt wrote in a statement dated April 16, 2023.

Stitt called for the resignations of Clardy, Commissioner Mark Jennings, Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix, and Alicia Manning, a sheriff ’s office investigator.

Only Jennings, who was identified in a recording by The Oklahoman, said he would run for sheriff if he were allowed to lynch Black people, resigned. Jail trust members placed Hendrix on paid administrative leave but according to the Mc-Curtain County Clerk’s office, the sheriff ’s office hired him soon after. Manning continues to work at the sheriff ’s office as well.

Several people sued the Sheriff ’s office over the past year. After Alicia Manning alleged that Gazette journalist Chris Willingham exchanged marijuana for child pornography, he sued the Sheriff ’s office, arguing the claims were false and punishment for the Gazette’s incriminating articles about Clardy and his team. Another three individuals sued the office and in one case initiated by McCurtain resident Barbara Barrick, Clardy personally, for excessive force by officers.

“The voters of Mc-Curtain County will have the final say over who will serve them as Sheriff,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond wrote in a June 2023 letter to the governor. In it, Drummond said the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation investigated, but ultimately concluded Clardy had not committed a crime or any act that could oust him from office.

Though Drummond suggested in the letter that Stitt endorse a candidate in the sheriff ’s race, Stitt’s campaign manager said the governor has not.

Candidates for Republican Nomination Shirey is a former McCurtain County dispatcher, deputy, and park ranger, and Ricketts is a former investigator, deputy, and private security firm owner.

Ricketts and Shirey ran against Clardy due to the recording.

“It was disgusting what they were saying, and what made it worse was that he (Clardy) couldn’t own up to his part in that conversation and apologize,” Ricketts said.

Shirey said he ran because talking about people the way Clardy and others did made him angry and caused him to wonder what else they were talking about behind people’s backs.

McKee, the Democrat, said the pretext to this election changed the county’s voting culture.

“This is probably one of the most important elections that we’ve had in several years … our people here are aware that we need to start looking more at the people that we’re putting into office … folks are actually going to start looking a little harder about who they elect, who we let run our community.”