Ernie Leyba
Ernie Leyba (Republican Party) is running for election for Forsyth County Sheriff in North Carolina. Leyba is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. The Republican primary for this office on March 3, 2026, was canceled.
Elections
2026
See also: Municipal elections in Forsyth County, North Carolina (2026)
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Forsyth County Sheriff
Incumbent Bobby Kimbrough (D) and Ernie Leyba (R) are running in the general election for Forsyth County Sheriff on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Bobby Kimbrough (D) | ||
| Ernie Leyba (R) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary
The Democratic primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled. Incumbent Bobby Kimbrough (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for Forsyth County Sheriff without appearing on the ballot.
Republican primary
The Republican primary scheduled for March 3, 2026, was canceled. Ernie Leyba (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Forsyth County Sheriff without appearing on the ballot.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2022
See also: Municipal elections in Forsyth County, North Carolina (2022)
General election
General election for Forsyth County Sheriff
Incumbent Bobby Kimbrough defeated Ernie Leyba in the general election for Forsyth County Sheriff on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Bobby Kimbrough (D) | 66.0 | 87,970 | |
| Ernie Leyba (R) | 34.0 | 45,275 | ||
| Total votes: 133,245 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Bobby Kimbrough advanced from the Democratic primary for Forsyth County Sheriff.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Ernie Leyba advanced from the Republican primary for Forsyth County Sheriff.
2018
General election
General election for Forsyth County Sheriff
Bobby Kimbrough defeated incumbent William Schatzman in the general election for Forsyth County Sheriff on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Bobby Kimbrough (D) | 53.5 | 72,648 | |
| William Schatzman (R) | 46.5 | 63,047 | ||
| Total votes: 135,695 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Forsyth County Sheriff
Bobby Kimbrough defeated Tim Wooten and Clif Kilby in the Democratic primary for Forsyth County Sheriff on May 8, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Bobby Kimbrough | 69.6 | 12,557 | |
| Tim Wooten | 21.2 | 3,829 | ||
| Clif Kilby | 9.1 | 1,648 | ||
| Total votes: 18,034 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Forsyth County Sheriff
Incumbent William Schatzman defeated Ernie Leyba in the Republican primary for Forsyth County Sheriff on May 8, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | William Schatzman | 79.0 | 7,968 | |
| Ernie Leyba | 21.0 | 2,120 | ||
| Total votes: 10,088 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ernie Leyba has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Ernie Leyba asking them to fill out the survey. If you are Ernie Leyba, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
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You can ask Ernie Leyba to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing leybaforsheriff@gmail.com.
Campaign website
Leyba's campaign website stated the following:
My Priorities Start With You
TURNOVER RATES
The continual loss of employees hurts the citizens of Forsyth County in numerous ways. One impact is the years of training and experience lost from those deputies that have been around for a number of years. In tandem, this loss comes at a high cost to the taxpayers financially. Each time a deputy leaves the agency, thousands of your hard-earned dollars have also been lost while training these deputies. When they leave another deputy must be hired and trained.
UNDERSTAFFING
Many divisions within the Sheriff’s Office are greatly understaffed. Divisions such as patrol, civil, and detention have been undermanned for several years. This results in slow call response times, slow delivery of civil processes, and detention to inmate ratio being at a level that is unsafe for the officers and inmates.
FIGHTING ILLEGAL DRUGS
The loss of the Narcotics Division due to high turnover and limited manpower within the Sheriff’s office. There is little doubt that illegal narcotics have an enormous impact on the safety of Forsyth County. Drugs are related to most burglaries and thefts committed because they want to get money for drugs. Also, assaults and domestic violence occur at an alarming rate due to being high on drugs. We can do a better job at detecting, deterring, and interdicting illegal drugs.
THE DETENTION CENTER
The Detention center has been greatly affected from the high turnover rates. We need to focus on reducing high turnover rates of detention staff and personnel and refocus on recruiting and training. We also need to restore the Crime Scene Investigations and give back to the citizens of the county. Top investigators in the state will be another top priority of mine.
SCHOOL SAFETY
School safety has not been high priority in the past. This is very important to me personally and runs close to the heart because I am a single parent raising my son in this community. It is the foundation of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System and the Sheriff’s Office. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office was the creator of the current School Resource Program. I will strengthen our partnership with the superintendent of the schools, school board, and each school within our county.
In summary, I have a lot of ways to help this community thrive and be safe. I appreciate your support in electing me as your future Sheriff. I look forward to working with the great citizens of Forsyth County.
FOR
- Retaining qualified personnel
- Reducing high turnover
- Greater Transparency
- Accountability as Sheriff
- Improvements in the Detention Center
- Community Involvement
- More visibility of Deputies/Officers in the community (Increased Patrols in Neighborhoods)
- Increase the Reserve Deputies (Extremely Lacking in the last 10 years)
- Bringing back the CSI Division
- Bring back the Narcotics Division
- Increase and Update the SRO programs for all schools
As your Sheriff I guarantee to the citizens of Forsyth that you’ll see me working the streets and aiding and assisting my officers diligently each day and not find me hiding behind the desk all day!!
AGAINST
- Nepotism
- Lack involvement of the current Sheriff (Very limited appearances, only occur during elections)
- Positions develop for no purpose besides getting a high salary to sit behind a desk and pencil push and delegate.
- Wasteful Spending of county tax payers $$
- Lack of support from the command staff of their personnel
— Ernie Leyba's campaign website (March 16, 2026)
2022
Ernie Leyba did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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