Aaron Rovenstine cleared a major hurdle Tuesday night in his attempt to extend the family tradition in Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.

But he'll have to get past Jeff Bronsing.

Rovenstine became the Republican nominee and Bronsing the Democrat nominee Tuesday night as each candidate won with comfortable margins.

Rovenstine defeated four other Republicans by picking up 39 percent of the vote. Finishing second was Sam Whitaker with 26 percent.

Bronsing, 49, cruised past two other opponents by winning 66 percent of the vote. Glen Canter finished second with 18 percent, and Ron Barley was third with 15 percent.

Rovenstine is seeking to replace his father, Al, who has served as sheriff for 16 years - more than any other person in county history.

Both Rovenstine and Bronsing are deputies in the department.

The younger Rovenstine won despite being the youngest candidate in the Republican field. He is 38.

With the county's overwhelming Republican make-up, both candidates admit Rovenstine begins the fall battle with a slight edge.

"Obviously, this is a Republican county and I will have the upper hand if we can keep the party together," Rovenstine said late Tuesday night.

The Republican primary proved to be wide open. Rovenstine admitted unifying the party "could be some concern."

Steve Knispel, who finished third with 20 percent, earlier predicted mending relations within the department could be the biggest challenge within the department. Five people from within the department ran for the office.

Bronsing, who's been with the department for 25 years, compared to eight years for Rovenstine, said he will use the experience issue against Rovenstine. But he admits it will be tough.

"It's been 20 years since there's been a Democrat sheriff. From that aspect, we're going to have an uphill fight," Bronsing said.

While Bronsing said he expected to win, Rovenstine found himself locked in a contentious battle.

"I don't think the county has seen anything like this in a long time," Rovenstine said.

Rovenstine said the race was especially trying, in part because he was quickly perceived as the front-runner.

"I was targeted as the leader right off the bat, so I basically had seven people running against me. That was a very difficult thing."

A low point in the campaign for Rovenstine came last week when challenger Wally Knox endorsed Whitaker. In his speech, Knox pointed out that "Al Rovenstine isn't running - his boy is."

The comment annoyed Aaron Rovenstine. "I'm a 38-year old man - not a boy. That upset me a little bit," he said.

He and Whitaker both said they were surprised at the margin of victory.

Many people thought the battle between Rovenstine and Whitaker would be closer.

"I felt we put together an effective campaign and I wouldn't have changed anything," Whitaker said.

Whitaker began the campaign early, hosted more town forums than anyone else and distributed 20,000 brochures.

He pledged to make sweeping changes and proposed several new positions within the department, while Rovenstine ran a campaign with fewer proposals involving changes.

"We basically did everything we could do," Whitaker said.

Deputy Mike Hobbs finished fourth with 13 percent, while Knox, a retired veteran of the Warsaw Police Department, finished with 1 percent. Last week Knox urged his supporters to support Whitaker.

Bronsing said he has already scheduled a series of fund-raisers to finance the fall fight.

According to the most recent campaign finance reports, Rovenstine had donations of $26,000. Bronsing had about $5,000.

Rovenstine's first reference toward the fall election was uncommonly kind.

"I have the utmost respect for Jeff Bronsing and it will be an honor to run against him," Rovenstine said. [[In-content Ad]]