*Results are complete, but unofficial
Anthony Hipolito (REP) has been elected to serve his first term as Hays County Sheriff to serve his first term from 2024-28.
With 63,301 votes, Hipolito (52.69%) beat opponent Alex Villalobos (47.31%) by a margin of 6,468 votes. Current Hays County Sheriff Gary Cutler did not run for reelection.
“I’m very proud of the campaign we’ve run, we’ve been going strong for about 2 and a half years,” Hipolito said. “…With the growth that Hays County has seen over the years, I knew it was going to take 2 to 3 years of hard campaigning to get this done.”
Hipolito previously worked for 23 years with the Austin Police Department and three years as the Hays County Sheriff Deputy in the community outreach division.
Hipolito was accused of violating Texas campaign funds after paying his wife $8, 000 from his campaign funds. He has since returned the money and neither the Texas Ethics Commission nor the Attorney General’s Office have charged Hipolito with a crime.
“Any time you make a mistake like I did although very unintentional and the action I took was in good faith because I truly thought it was perfectly legal,” Hipolito said. “I’ve been in law enforcement for 26 years, I hold the word integrity at a very high value. I should have made more of an effort to research, I trusted my consultant because she’s been doing this a long time and my wife is my campaign manager and I would have paid any other campaign manager a lot more than what I paid my wife so I felt comfortable doing what I did and I was going to pay her again if I’m being honest.”
Hipolito said his priorities are public safety, fentanyl prevention and making connections with the Hays County commissioners.
“That’s where the relationship with our county commissioners comes in. I’ve got really good relationships with everyone on that dais. If you don’t stay on top of the growth if you’re not forward thinking and continuing to grow the sheriff’s office to ensure that we have enough deputies on the streets, you can fall behind quickly and crime will soar,” Hipolito said.
Hipolito said he will use his relationships with other members of the Hays County administration to get what he wants done right away.
“I’m going to get to work right away,” Hipolito said. “I have a great working relationship with the current administration and they will continue to take me under their wing and help me along the way.”
Villalobos is the Hays County Chief of Staff. Villalobos wanted to bring programs to lessen violence in the Hays County Jail, build anti-fentanyl programs and improve threat assessments.
Villalobos was accused of misusing department resources in past law enforcement positions, abusing power, incorrectly filling out paperwork and being ineligible to be hired as a law enforcement officer.
Reporter Carter Lawson contributed to this story.
