CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland police union president Steve Loomis was ousted Tuesday as the union's president.

The controversial detective was beaten in the union elections by Det. Jeff Follmer, a former union president, who endured controversy of his own during his two-year stint.

Follmer garnered 387 votes to Loomis' 349. He will begin his duties in January. Loomis will return to the city's Third District, where he is a detective. There were 736 votes cast out of 1,243 ballots sent out.

"The silver lining in this election is that I will now have time to focus on my family and my health," Loomis said in a statement. "I wish all those elected the best going forward and expect them to continue the work and success this union has been committed to."

He went on to say he was proud of his work as union president and that he believed he left the union "in better shape than I found them."

Follmer said he wants to bring more unity within the police department. He said he'll make sure the officers have strong legal representation when necessary.

He said he believed the election was swayed in part because of unhappiness with the union's new contract, which calls for no raises the first year, and two percent raises the following two years.

"I just want to try to bring more unity and represent the union in the best way possible," Follmer said.

Loomis was president from 2006 until 2011, when Follmer beat him by 10 votes. Loomis then beat Follmer by about 350 votes for his old job on Nov. 17, 2014, just five days before 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a police officer.

The controversial shooting that garnered national attention and sparked weeks of protests in Cleveland set the tone for Loomis' most recent stint as the union's president.

He defended the officers involved, routinely railing against the city's settlement with the Rice family, and he also appealed the firing of officer Timothy Loehmann who fired the fatal shot the killed Tamir.

Loomis has made headlines for several controversial issues, including having the union vote, and endorse, Donald Trump for President. It was the first time in the union's history that it endorsed a presidential candidate, sparking outrage from the Cleveland Police's Black Shield, a separate union that represents black officers.

That vote turned out only 284 votes total votes.

He also remains under review by Internal Affairs for wearing his police uniform to a Trump rally in Akron during the presidential campaign. Loomis also makes sporadic appearances on Fox News as a guest panelist on controversial police issues.

Loomis recently waded into the national debate over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality. The Browns had set up a day for police, firefighters and EMS to hold the flag during the national anthem. But Browns players knelt during the anthem during a preseason game.

The union's pulled out of the pregame ceremony and Loomis criticized the Browns organization for appearing anti-police. City officials later found other police officers who stood arm-and-arm with the players during the national anthem.

Follmer, too, made headlines for criticizing a Browns player when he was the president of the union. He called then-Browns wide receiverAndrew Hawkins "pathetic" for wearing a "Justice for Tamir Rice" T-shirt during pregame warmups in 2014.

He also criticized the U.S. Justice Department's 2014 report on the department that found the police used excessive force, among a myriad of other issues. That report resulted in the consent decree that requires certain reforms within the police department.