Nygren wins GOP nod in McHenry sheriff's race

With nearly all votes counted Tuesday night, incumbent McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren won a landslide victory over challenger and former deputy Zane Seipler in the race for the Republican party nomination.

According to results posted by the McHenry County Clerk, Nygren had collected 15,147 votes to Seipler's 7,145 with 212 of 212 precincts reporting. Some early and absentee ballots remained to be counted.

Nygren he will go on to face Democrat Michael Mahon, a longtime Cook County sheriff's deputy who lives in Lake in the Hills, and Green Party hopeful Gus Philpott of Woodstock in November's general election.

The primary for Nygren, 63, of Hebron, was the first electoral challenge he faced since he first won office in 1998.

Seipler, 37, of Woodstock, frequently criticized the sheriff on everything from his use of the department's SWAT team to his training to the amount of time he spends at out-of-state vacation homes.

"I've always felt that when you go on the attack, use innuendo and character assassination it is counterproductive," Nygren said while watching results Tuesday night in Woodstock. "Hopefully, those people learn a lesson from this."

Nygren said the large margin of victory is a "vote of confidence" for the men and women of his department.

"I don't take credit for all that, just my small share of the pie," he added.

Nygren's campaign focused largely on his long law enforcement career, which, in terms of length and variety, dwarfs that of his opponent. He said it would be "dangerous" to put someone with Seipler's credentials in charge of the 425-member sheriff's department.

Seipler, who has a combined eight years experience as a McHenry County sheriff's in law enforcement, played down the experience gap, saying he had served in nearly every nonsupervisory function of a sheriff's department.

Tuesday does not end the conflict between the two Republicans. Seipler is suing the sheriff in federal court over his 2008 dismissal, claiming Nygren fired him for speaking out about racial profiling by some of his colleagues. Nygren said he fired Seipler after the deputy twice let men driving without licenses off without tickets, instead ticketing their female passengers.

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