Elk Grove Assemblyman Jim Cooper is running for Sacramento County Sheriff.
Cooper will make his announcement at 10 a.m. today at Capitol Mall - and if elected, he would be the first Black sheriff in Sacramento county history. Cooper intends to hold onto his Assembly seat for now, but is reportedly not running for re-election. Cooper ran for Sheriff several years ago against current Sheriff Scott Jones, who recently announced he is running for Congress and not seeking re-election. “I’ve been disheartened at some of the things you see (related to the Sheriff’s Office) like lawsuits, losses of tens of millions of dollars,“ Cooper said in an interview. “The sheriff’s department is the community. The community is the sheriff’s department. It really starts at the top. You’ve got to be engaged with the community no matter who they are.”
Cooper states he’s running because of his "professional love of the Sheriff’s Office supersedes any other professional ambition he has." A local product, he was a student at Cordova High School, working at a drive-in theater when he says he was encouraged to apply for the department by two deputies who he knew personally. His proposed platforms to focus on for his campaign will be homelessness and mental health.