The race to become the state of North Carolina’s next lieutenant governor is about to get a new candidate.
Longtime Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page is expected to announce his jump into the Republican primary on Memorial Day Weekend and he already has a solid base of law enforcement support lined up once he begins his quest.
Page, who has more than three decades of law enforcement experience under his belt, has been the only Sheriff of Rockingham County this century. He was elected in 1998 and now, obviously, he has a desire to move past law enforcement and take a leadership role that extends throughout the state.
Former Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, also a Republican who was elected as a sheriff back in the 1990s, worked closely with Page over the years and speaks very highly of him. The two go way back. Barnes even trained Page on some aspects of law enforcement after Barnes headed a specialized Vice and Narcotics Office back in the mid-1970s.
They have been good friends and Barnes worked to help Page get elected sheriff of Rockingham County.
The former Guilford County Sheriff said he’s glad to see Page get in the race.
“He’s a good man,” Barnes said. “He served in the military police in the air force – and he was a dog handler,”
Barnes added that Page has been a very popular sheriff in Rockingham County through the years and that he has consistently won reelection by large margins.
In Page’s law enforcement career, he’s had quite a wide variety of experience up and down the law enforcement chain. In addition to various law enforcement roles in the military, in his civil career he’s been a patrolman, a criminal investigator, an administrator and a sheriff.
Page already has a lot of name recognition that will work in his favor. He’s a constant figure in the news in central North Carolina and he is known in law enforcement circles across the state in large part due to his work with the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association. Page has served as the president of that organization and is currently a member of the executive committee.
Three cheers for Sam Page!
One of the good guys.
This man is a great leader and a solid person. He will do a good job for the people.
Sam is a good solid candidate. He can and has worked with both republicans and democrats as a advocate for border security and good law and order. I wish Sam well and hope others will support him as well.
A good man who will do a good job if elected. The News and Record ran an article about this and the bulk of the story was about the number of deaths that have occurred in the jail while Sam Page has been sheriff. Just a cheap shot on the part of that news paper. They could not stand to say something good about him. Typical of that publication.
Sam Page would be a good choice until I saw Mr. BJ Barnes backing him. He (Barnes) lost his political persuasion after losing to Rogers.