Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes will replace retiring Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, a result made official Wednesday after political newcomer Duke Nguyen conceded the race.

Barnes was far ahead of Nguyen, 57.1 percent to 42.9 percent, as of 2 a.m. Wednesday, with more than 400,000 late mail-in and provisional ballots yet to be counted.

See full election results from Orange County, state races

Nguyen said, “I am very proud of how we ran our campaign. We went into this to bring more accountability and trust to the Sheriff’s Department. I think we definitely met the goal of educating as many people as possible about the issues in the department. They spent over $1.2 million to keep that change out of the department.”

He added, “The need for newfound integrity in the department is paramount. I truly hope that Don will move beyond the tribal politics he ran on. We need someone who will take responsibility for the problems within the department and move forward…The changes that need to be made cannot happen over night, or by criminalizing everyone who does not have the power to stand up for themselves.”

Barnes, the hand-picked heir apparent to Hutchens, represents the status quo, campaigning on his vast experience in the department and blaming years of scandal on the misdoings of a few rogue employees.

Sheriff’s candidate Don Barnes shares a moment with his wife Marilyn at the end of the evening. They were at their election night headquarters in Santa Ana on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)

Undersheriff Don Barnes, right, a candidate for Orange County Sheriff, talks with Orange County Chief Probation Officer Steve Sentman and his wife Joni on convention night, Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)

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Sheriff’s candidate Duke Nguyen talks with a supporter at Bosava Restaurant in Westminster on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)

Undersheriff Don Barnes, a candidate for Orange County Sheriff talks with a supporter at Original Mike’s in Santa Ana. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)

Undersheriff Don Barnes, a candidate for Orange County Sheriff checks early election returns with Ray Grangoff at Original Mike’s in Santa Ana on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)



Sheriff’s candidate Duke Nguyen and his wife Laura met with supporters at Bosava Restaurant in Westminister on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)

Undersheriff Don Barnes announces early election returns at his election night headquarters on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Barnes is a candidate for Orange County Sheriff. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Contributing Photographer)

Nguyen, a political newcomer and public integrity investigator with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, has called for changes in a department facing controversy after controversy, including complaints by the ACLU of inhumane treatment in the jail.

Barnes said the early vote shows the community’s faith in he and Hutchens.

“I’m pleased with the early election results. I appreciate the confidence the majority of voters have in me, but it really shows the people’s confidence in the department,” Barnes said in a prepared statement.

Hutchens on Wednesday congratulated Barnes, calling him a man of character and informed judgment.

“The people of Orange County can have every confidence that Don Barnes will be a watchful steward of taxpayer dollars, a servant leader for the 4,000 employees of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and, most importantly, a faithful advocate for the safety of Orange County residents,” Hutchens said.

The voting occurred as the state Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division continued their investigations into deputies’ misuse of jail informants to get confessions.

Barnes was heavily favored to succeed Hutchens, who was appointed in 2008 to replace sheriff-turned-felon Michael S. Carona. Barnes, 53, stressed that Nguyen, 46, has no experience running a department as large as the Orange County sheriff’s agency, with 3,800 employees, the fifth-largest sheriff’s department in the nation.

Barnes, with the department for 29 years, has been managing the day-to-day aspects of the agency for months, becoming its public face before news cameras and at special events.

But with all the experience comes a lot of baggage.

In past years, deputies and prosecutors misused jailhouse informants to question inmates who were legally represented, in violation of their constitutional rights. Deputies also failed to make scheduled jail checks which allowed the escape in 2016 of three violent inmates for about a week. And jailers recently placed a non-violent offender in a cell with a man who confessed to killing two homeless men. The non-violent offender was strangled by his cellmate.

The American Civil Liberties Union also accused the department of treating jail inmates inhumanely. ACLU leaders alleged that deputies often use excessive force, instigate violent confrontations among inmates, house inmates in unsanitary conditions and deny them adequate health care. One federal jail inspection found “slimy, foul smelling lunch meat” in the kitchen.

Hutchens and Barnes concede there have been problems within the department, but nothing to the extent presented by the media. Changes have been made, where needed, but overall, the agency is a well-run machine.

Except when it’s not.

Like when the sheriff’s telephone service provider improperly taped more than 1,000 conversations between inmates and their attorneys for three years. Deputies then accessed some of the recordings, making copies and sending them to police investigators.

The attorney-client privilege is one of the most sacred in the world of law. The sheriff’s department is quick to point out that the phone mistake was made by the contractor and not by the department.

Nguyen alleges the department is insensitive to impoverished and ethnic minorities and pledges to have deputies work for the people, and not against them.