KANSAS CITY – Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who embraced conspiracies around the 2020 election, has been defeated in the Republican primary for sheriff.
Former county undersheriff Doug Bedford took the race by roughly 56% - 43%.
Bedford is a former member of the US Navy who served as Hayden's undersheriff from 2017 to 2021. Bedford will now face Byron Roberson, the Prairie Village police chief running as a Democrat.
Hayden had spent the last two years on a voter fraud investigation which recently ended with no results and no criminal charges filed.
His public doubts about the integrity of local and state elections track with the rise of like-minded leaders in GOP organizations in Kansas and other states, and aligned with Donald Trump’s false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
In the summer of 2022, Hayden attended the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association conference, a group that claims sheriffs have virtually unchecked power in their counties, though he said he is not a member. And last year gave a speech at the Determined Patriot Conference held in KCK.
In summer of 2024, ahead of the primary vote, Hayden suspended his investigation, blaming the county’s destruction in February of ballots from 2019, 2020, and 2021, which is at least 17 months late, but in line with state law.
Hayden’s office referred questions about his work as sheriff to his campaign, which did not respond to a request for an interview.