LAFAYETTE, IN — Tom Lehman became the first candidate to announce his plans to run for Tippecanoe County sheriff in 2026.
Lehman, who’s been with the sheriff’s department for 29 years, plans to run as a Republican in the May primary election. Filing for all candidates of political parties opens on Jan. 7 and closes Feb. 6.
During his time on the department, he’s been a deputy, a detective, a sergeant, a lieutenant in either patrol or detectives. He’s been captain of the jail and captain of patrol.
“Realizing one day that I feel like I’ve got more that I can offer and try to help the department grow, so I just took a shot,” Lehman said about his motivation to run for sheriff.
“Being through most of the positions and divisions in the sheriff’s office has given me experience that nobody else has,” he said when asked about his qualifications for sheriff.
The sheriff is responsible for running the jail, serving warrants, sales of property that are behind in taxes, as well as patrolling the county, responding to calls for service and investigating crimes outside of the incorporated cities.
“I feel like I’m a fairly decent leader,” Lehman said of his strengths. “I like to listen to what people have to say and keep people involved in making decisions.”
Lehman said he wants to continue to cultivate a positive image of law enforcement in the county.
“I think our community at large still support us and believe in what law enforcement is about,” he said. “The community’s great to us.”
One of the ways to maintain that relationship with the community is at the schools, he said.
“There are areas I want to focus some attention on like our school resource program. I think that’s so important.” Lehman said about building relationships and trust with schools, with students and parents.
“That’ll carry to the outside, and kids will be able to trust us outside of schools,” he said.
Illegal drugs use also is damaging the community, and he said he wants to address that.
“I think we’ve got to find a way to try to slow that influx of those drugs into our society and education people on not using them because of the dangers of them,” Lehman said. “I think that’s one of our biggest challenges.”
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Tom Lehman announces run for Tippecanoe County sheriff in 2026
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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