I woke up the morning after election night with one consuming thought: Marshal Ramone Lamkin must be the saddest person in Augusta, even more so than outgoing Sheriff Richard Roundtree.
The race for sheriff was closer than it should have been. But there was a clear winner and a clear loser. What is Lamkin’s future in law enforcement in Augusta look like?
My column, which ran on July 13, 2023, encouraged Lamkin to run for sheriff. That column came on the heels of Roundtree’s community meeting to help address homelessness. Clearly, one year later, the homelessness crisis in Augusta has not improved.
After the column went live, my voicemail started to fill up from both naysayers and supporters of Lamkin.
What became clear was Lamkin didn’t think he could win. Many of his surrogates indicated that, based on polling numbers, nobody could beat Roundtree, even someone with county wide name recognition like Lamkin.
Roundtree’s campaign apparently thought the same thing as Lamkin. The base of the tree was so round and rotund that it couldn’t be toppled.
Boy, were they wrong, because Gino showed up with a giant ax.
Had Lamkin run for sheriff, it would have been a slug fest. It could have deterred others from not running, thus eliminating a runoff, which would have likely helped Roundtree. I believe that a Lamkin verses Roundtree runoff would have seen an embarrassing defeat for Roundtree of 20 to 30 points.
There is no question that the recent downtown shooting and subsequent blundered press conference hurt the Roundtree campaign. I am not arrogant enough to think my column that landed the day after that press conference hurt Roundtree’s campaign, but if it did, then I am glad I wrote it.
I am thankful that as a community we can celebrate Gino’s victory. Hopefully, this will spark a new era in law enforcement in Richmond County that includes real solutions and competent leadership. As for Lamkin, he has done a fine job as Marshal and hopefully will continue to do so. Next time when the time for a new sheriff comes, hopefully Lamkin will take the plunge and put his name into the running. The community would certainly get behind him as sheriff.
