CANYON CITY — Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley was cruising toward a second term on election night, leading challenger Scott Moore by better than a 2-to-1 margin in early unofficial returns.

Shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Nov. 5, McKinley was polling 2,943 votes, or 68.75%, to 1,312 votes, or 30.65%, for Moore.

McKinley said he was relieved to put the campaign behind him.

“I am just glad it’s over and we’re on to the next four years and my staff can breathe easy and sleep soundly tonight knowing there’s some stability in the office for the next four years,” he said.

The sheriff said he would continue looking for stable funding sources that would enable him to provide expanded policing services for Grant County residents.

“It’s a county issue, not just my office, and we’ve got to find an answer to it,” he said.

“Dollars equal policing,” McKinley said. “You can’t do it without the funding.”

McKinley said he would look into pursuing grants rather than creating a burden for the county’s cash-strapped cities by expecting substantial financial contributions from them.

“I don’t want to see that, but I also want them to feel safe and be comfortable,” he said. “There’s got to be an answer to that, and that’s going to be my focus.”

McKinley has been Grant County’s sheriff since 2021.

He joined the Grant County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy in 2001 and took the helm of the Parole and Probation Department in 2015.

McKinley unseated incumbent Glenn Palmer in the 2020 election.

Moore is a former Grant County sheriff’s deputy and a former sergeant in the John Day Police Department who has more than 14 years of experience in law enforcement.

He is currently a public works foreman for the city of John Day.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has an annual budget of $2.76 million. The office has a patrol division, a corrections division (which runs the county jail) and a civil deputy, whose job involves serving subpoenas and other court orders. The sheriff’s office also oversees the county’s volunteer search and rescue team.

The base salary for the sheriff’s position is $87,540 annually.