A Trump-backing sheriff fired his lesbian deputy. So she ran for his job and just crushed him

  • 05/01/2020 4:02 pm ET • Sabrina Matthews
McGuffey for Sheriff

McGuffeyforSheriff.com

Update, June 6: This story was updated to reflect Charmaine McGuffey’s stance on the excessive use of force by police.

Cincinnati’s Hamilton County is likely to elect their first openly gay sheriff this November—a former deputy who was fired by the current sheriff, who attended a Trump rally in 2016.

Charmaine McGuffey, who has won the Democratic nomination for county sheriff, has the kind of storied career in law enforcement you’d hope for in a candidate. She also has the honor of having been fired for being a lesbian who tried to get Hamilton’s current sheriff to act on systemic misconduct against women.

“The current sheriff and I got into a pretty serious disagreement about the practice of him not holding officers accountable for use of force and harassment of women, female officers, and female inmates,” McGuffey told LGBTQ Nation.

She took her time away to come to the conclusion that she could do a better job than the guy who fired her. Voters agree: in the Democratic primary last month, McGuffey beat him for this November’s nomination in a landslide.

Roughly 70% of people voted for McGuffey. Cincinnati.com called it a “rare victory” because a challenger doesn’t usually takedown “an incumbent in a primary.”

Perhaps Democrats in the county agreed with McGuffey’s assessment of sheriff Neil,

“Quite frankly, my opponent has pretended to be a Democrat for many years now, when he’s actually much more aligned with the Tea Party Republicans. He tells people what they want to hear and then doesn’t follow through.”

After being fired in 2017, Charmaine McGuffey built a campaign on criminal justice reform: “The solution to the problem of mass incarceration is certainly not more mass incarceration.”

In her former job as Major in Command of jail and court services, McGuffey spent four years improving jail compliance with state standards, so she speaks from an area of expertise.

UPDATE: “Zero tolerance for excessive use of force.”

In June, “McGuffey said if she is elected she will establish an independent citizen review board for complaints against officers,” Cincinnati.com reported. She will pursue, “stricter discipline for those who use excessive force” as well as “better training on de-escalation, diversity and inclusion.”

McGuffey added, “Under my leadership, officers will be held accountable when there are violations of policy. We will have zero tolerance for excessive use of force.”

Neil, McGuffey’s opponent and former boss, wanted to build a new jail. Incumbent Neil managed to lose the endorsement of his own party for moves like appearing in uniform on stage with then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.

It was an interesting choice for a Democrat, particularly one who said he planned to vote for Hilary Clinton. In his non-apology, he said, “What you get with Jim Neil is what you get.”

Apparently, what voters want to “get,” is a new sheriff.

True justice

Twitter was glad to see that the former sheriff was given the boot!

But here’s the unexpected twist to the story….

There was one detail of the story that had users scratching their heads…

Loves to see it

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Canva

But Twitter users couldn’t stop bringing the love.

She was fired for what?

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Source: Canva

Some Twitter users were shocked to learn that a person could be fired due to their sexual orientation.


Unfortunately, sexual orientation is not a federally protected class as part of the Civil Rights Act. While there are 19 states that do protect LGBTQ workers from discrimination, there may be little recourse in other states.

If she wins…

In November, McGuffey will be running against Republican Police Lieutenant Bruce Hoffbauer. If she wins, she will be the “first female LGBTQ+ sheriff in her state.”

But for now, McGuffey is celebrating her historic win!

Giving thanks

A Trump-backing sheriff fired his lesbian deputy. So she ran for his job and just crushed him

Screenshot / Twitter

In between all the celebrating, McGuffey has been giving shout outs to her supporters on both Twitter and Facebook.

In her own words…

In this live stream interview, McGuffey discusses her career and answers questions from voters.

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