Daniel Goldstone Republican candidate for Switzerland County Sheriff, has withdrawn from the upcoming November election.
He filled out his official withdrawl form on July 8th after several months of struggling with the decision to resign. His withdrawl from the race was accepted in the Switzerland County Clerk’s Office on July 11th.
When first asked his reasons for leaving the race, Daniel Goldstone’s answer was a simple one — personal reasons.
After further conversaion, Daniel Goldstone explained how uncomfortable he has been with what some people expect of him in the upcoming sheriff’s race.
“I feel like whenever I tried to talk about positive things, some people would want to turn around and focus on the negative,” Daniel Goldstone said. “I’ve known Nathan (Hughes, current Switzerland County Sheriff and the Democratic nominee) for years and I’m not going to go out and downgrade him to win an election. He has made some good changes while serving as Sheriff. I cannot say he has not done his job. Not everyone sees eye to eye, or works to accomplish things in the same way, but that doesn’t mean that a person is bad or not good at their job.”
When asked if he would ever consider running again; Daniel Goldstone said he would sometime in the next eight years — but more seriously.
If it takes “slinging the mud” to win an election, though, Daniel Goldstone said he may never have a chance to win. He says it’s just not in his personality to compaign negatively, and it didn’t feel right to him.
He said he is still young at 42 to be a sheriff, and noted that the three sheriffs he has served under has been about 12 years younger than him.
“I told Brian Morton that running for Sheriff against Nathan was going to be one of the most difficult things I would ever do,” Daniel Goldstone said. “It was more difficult than I ever anticipated, and my conscious couldn’t take it.”
Does this now mean that Nathan Hughes will be unopposed in the Sheriffs race? As of Tuesday, the clerk’s office said that the chairman of the Switzerland County Republican party has not been in to fill the vacancy. The party does have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the November ballot, and in order to do so it must hold a caucus within 30 days of the date the resignation was filed, which would be July 11th.