Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 general election over the weekend while in uniform, highlighting a murky area in Virginia campaign law.
The endorsement — made in a video posted on the social media platform X — showed Leonard in his CCSO uniform, referring to Trump as the “law and order candidate.” He then suggested people visit a pro-Trump website.
When contacted Monday, the sheriff’s office initially denied Leonard was the person speaking in the video. By the afternoon, a spokesperson confirmed that Leonard had participated in a Trump campaign event over the weekend.
“He was at the Trump Campaign Office opening Saturday in Chesterfield and did supply that short video message directing people to go to the Trump Force 47 web page,” Lt. Rodney Phillips wrote in an email to VPM News.
Part of the confusion stemmed from the fact that Leonard’s X handle has not been active in a decade, Phillips said.
The video posted on X from the Trump Force 47 Virginia account depicts Leonard identifying himself while in uniform, saying “we’ve got to support this law-and-order candidate, President Trump.”
In the post, Leonard says the country is in the “grips of crime and the southern border is wide open.”
At the national level, the incidence of violent crime has steadily declined over the past several decades, according to the Pew Research Center. And at the county level, Chesterfield’s violent crime rate is below the national average, according to statistics from U.S. News and World Report.
There’s also a distinction between Leonard’s office — which guards public spaces, like supervisors meetings and the courthouse, and manages jails — and the Chesterfield County Police Department, which patrols and investigates potential crimes.
The website tied to the Trump Force 47 account is paid for by the Republican National Committee and — as NPR previously reported — is part of the GOP’s national get-out-the-vote campaign.
According to Richard Meagher, a political science professor at Randolph-Macon College and host of VPM’s RVA’s Got Issues podcast, Leonard’s public endorsement of a candidate may be problematic.
“Law enforcement officers are generally prohibited from ‘official’ political activity — so wearing the uniform seems to be the key problem here,” he said in an email to VPM News. He said Leonard could have endorsed Trump if he were appearing as a private citizen, but not in his capacity as the county’s sheriff.
In a follow-up telephone call, Meagher said, “At the federal level for sure, and in some states, ethically, generally public officials are not supposed to endorse political campaigns in an official capacity,” he said.
Meagher added that this should be especially true for law enforcement officials: “It makes it seem like there is an implied threat of force behind their endorsement.”
Elizabeth Hobbs, chief legal and policy officer for the Virginia Sheriff’s Association, declined to comment in an email, writing that “VSA does not get involved in local sheriff’s individual matters.”
The Virginia Department of Elections also declined to weigh in. An email from Andrea Gaines, the department’s external affairs manager, said the state elections department “does not issue legal opinions.”
But Meagher — and other legal scholars contacted by VPM News who agreed to speak on background — pointed out overlapping gray areas in federal and state law. That ambiguity may allow for campaigning on the part of an elected official like Leonard.
The central legal question for scholars: Does an elected sheriff enjoy the legal right to campaign in his or her official capacity, while a police chief — as an appointed employee of a locality — does not?
The answer: It depends.
Henry Chambers, a University of Richmond law professor, wrote in an email: “Sheriffs can run in partisan races, others have endorsed candidates, and this does not appear to be the first time Sheriff Leonard has done something like this.”
Chambers offered up the example of Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds being endorsed by Charlottesville Sheriff James Brown — and also pointed out that Leonard has previously been involved in politicking at the state level.
But others VPM News contacted questioned whether endorsements by the head of a law enforcement agency are appropriate.
“Ethicists would argue that a sheriff is more like a judge and less like a mayor or a governor,” Meagher said.
In response to a question about ethically sound ways for an elected official to endorse, Meagher said: “You don’t have to lie about your job. You just need to separate it from your endorsement, make it clear that this is your personal endorsement.”
