By ASHLEY HIBDON and HEATHER BAKER
Utah County Sheriff David Bateman will serve four more years in office.
Opponent Richard Mack conceded the race with only about half of the voter precincts reporting numbers favoring incumbent Bateman.
Mack felt that even with the loss, his campaign made a difference.
'There's no question about it, but if it was the proper role of government that was rejected, that scares me,' Mack said. 'If the real issues are grabbing our share of the federal loot, then I have doubts about the reasons for the way the race turned out.'
Mack felt the report of his involvement with a company under investigation by the FBI hurt his campaign.
'Before the information about the FBI investigation came out, 35-40 percent of the voters were undecided. I think their decision to vote the way they did was influenced by that,' Mack said.
Mack believes that residents voted the way they did because of familiarity.
'They don't want to leave their comfort zone,' Mack said.
Richard Moss, Mack's campaign manager agreed.
'I think people are afraid of change. They want to keep what they know,' Moss said. 'This was the incumbents race if you look at the results. I think people wanted to stay with them.'
Moss also felt the FBI investigation controversy affected the results of the race.
'I think the FBI investigation scared people. There were some false rumored spread and people paid attention to them.'
Mack plans to take a few days off before getting back to work.
'I'm not leaving the flight, there's too much more to do,' he said.
Sheriff David Bateman was almost speechless with the results.
'I'm surprised at the margin of victory, I never thought it would be this large.' Bateman said.
Bateman said he thinks the voters in Utah County made a stand on how they feel.
'I think they were saying we may be a conservative county, the most in the state, but that doesn't mean we feel it's a priority to criticize the federal government.'
Bateman said he thinks the investigation around Mack hurt him. Bateman himself never thought he was in the race. He said he felt people were just looking at a referendum by saying they didn't want Mack.
But many of Bateman's deputies who were watching the voting results said Bateman never gave himself credit and that he was in it more than he thought.
Mack congratulated Bateman on the victory and offered his help in the sheriff's office.
'When you need any help just give me a call. This is both our home and I'm ready to help.' Mack said.
But Bateman said he doesn't think he'll offer a position to Mack. 'Philosophically we wouldn't work well together, it just wouldn't work.' Bateman said.
Bateman said he's now going to concentrate on his 12-point agenda and concentrate on the upcoming election against his democratic opponent in November.