AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Anthony Hipolito beat Democrat Alex Villalobos in the race for Hays County sheriff on Tuesday.
Hipolito will take over the position from Sheriff Gary Cutler, who is retiring after nearly 15 years.
Hipolito has 26 years of law enforcement experience, with 23 years serving at the Austin Police Department. He’s currently the Hays County Sheriff's Office community outreach deputy.
Hipolito said one of his top priorities will be tackling the rapid growth Hays County is seeing and the potential crime it could bring. He said it starts with recruiting and retaining more staff.
“A huge priority for me is to come in and establish a culture of value. If we do that, it makes ourselves more marketable,” Hipolito said. “We, as a sheriff's office, have to be proactive and create a recruiting unit to come out and go out and recruit the best of the best.”
Hipolito said he also wants to focus on integrating more technology to head off crime before it happens, to have school resource officers staffed at every school in the district and to collaborate more with other agencies.
“Another goal of mine is to just to keep the crime as low as possible," Hipolito said. "Everybody deserves to live, walk in their neighborhoods without anything bad happening to them."
His opponent, Villalobos, currently works as the Hays County Chief of Staff and ran for sheriff previously against the long-time incumbent Cutler, losing narrowly in 2020. He is also a former member of the Kyle City Council, spent 11 years as a peace officer and served as an educator at Texas State University.