Michael Wittig of Princeton is on pace to secure the Democratic nomination for the Bureau County Sheriff race, according to unofficial primary election results.

Wittig was competing with Joseph Flanagan of LaMoille.

“I’m super excited,” Wittig said. “We had a lot of people put in a lot of hard work and the vote turned out in our favor.”

Unofficial results with all precincts reporting have Wittig with 975 votes to Flanagan’s 719.

“Now it’s time for us to get hunkered back down and focus on this general election,” Wittig said. “We will work towards getting our movement towards the sheriff’s race really up and running so that we can take care of the people in November.”

If results hold, come November Wittig, a deputy with the Bureau County Sheriff’s Office, will attempt to succeed James Reed, who is not seeking re-election in 2026.

“I think we’re going to stay pretty consistent with the community outreach that we’re working on,” Wittig said. “It’s really the communities that we serve that we need to know more about. The more that I can interact with our community and know their concerns as we move forward to that November election, the better.”

Flanagan, a patrol deputy at the Bureau County Sheriff’s Office, was at peace with the results of the election.

“I’m good with it,” he said. “I gave it everything I had and met a lot of nice people. I appreciate everybody that I talked to and I appreciate my voters who voted for me.”