Tom Kammerer has the lead over Edward Jauch for the Republican nomination for Bureau County Sheriff, according to unofficial results on Tuesday night.
Kammerer holds a commanding lead, taking 1,818 votes to Edward Jauch’s 746 votes. A victory would set him up as the Republican nominee in the November general election.
“We were really lucky to have just a great committee that helped do this. There’s no way I could have done it without them,” Kammerer said. “I just got off the phone with Ed, I thanked him, because I had so many people compliment us on running a clean campaign, no mudslinging, none of that nonsense. We just stuck to issues, and I feel like that probably brought a few more voters out for both of us.”
Kammerer has served as Princeton police chief for the past eight years and previously spent more than two decades with the Naperville Police Department, where he retired as a commander.
During the campaign, Kammerer highlighted his leadership experience and focus on prevention-based policing, particularly in the areas of mental health and substance use.
He also emphasized his experience overseeing personnel, budgets and policy, emphasizing his role leading the police department as preparation for managing the sheriff’s office at the county level.
He has also pointed to programs implemented in Princeton as models that could be expanded throughout the county.
“I’m grateful this part’s over, and we’ll look forward to November,” he added. “We’ve got just a huge amount of support here in Princeton and throughout the county—knocking on doors and all the stuff we did to make this part happen. Now we’ll start working on the next part.”
Jauch has more than three decades of law enforcement experience, including work as a sergeant with the Spring Valley Police Department and as an undercover officer on federal task forces targeting drug trafficking and human trafficking.
Throughout the race, he emphasized aggressive enforcement against drugs and a return to proactive policing strategies during his campaign.
“Of course, the outcome isn’t what I had hoped,” Jauch said. “However, I have the utmost respect for the people of Bureau County and for whatever God’s plan is for the future.”