Civic
Every race on your ballot, with sources. Races by stateJoin the Luminary network

2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Tipton County Sheriff

Voted on across Tipton County.

Find your exact ballotAll Tipton County races

What this office does

The sheriff is an elected county officer created by the Indiana Constitution who arrests offenders, keeps the peace, serves court papers, keeps order in county courts and runs the county jail [1, 2]. The Indiana Sheriffs' Association describes sheriffs as constitutional officers elected by the people, whose work includes operating jails, serving civil process, providing court security and coordinating emergency response [3]. Every county elects its sheriff in 2026 for a four-year term, and no one may serve as sheriff more than eight years in any twelve-year period [1].

The job in full — the duties the Indiana Code puts in it, the term, what it pays and who sets that, and what to ask a candidate.

Term
4 years; the sheriff serves until a successor is elected and qualified [4, 1]
Elected
Countywide by the county's voters on the partisan general election ballot; all county sheriffs are elected in 2026 [1]
Term limit
No more than eight years in any period of twelve years (Indiana Constitution, Article 6, Section 2) [1]
Qualifications
Must have lived in the county for at least one year before the election, be registered to vote in the county by the filing deadline, and file a statement of economic interests; a sheriff who moves out of the county forfeits the office [1, 4]
Pay
A county may pay the sheriff a salary from the county general fund of at least 50% to 100% of the state minimum salary of a full-time prosecuting attorney, depending on county population [5]
On the 2026 ballot
92 races; 26 contested [6]
What the law puts in this job (13)
  • Arrests without a warrant people who commit an offense in the sheriff's view, brings them before a county court, and holds them while the arrest is investigated [2].
  • Suppresses breaches of the peace and pursues and jails felons [2].
  • Takes care of the county jail and the prisoners held there [2, 3].
  • Serves and carries out legal papers (process) directed to the sheriff by courts and the county commissioners [2].
  • Attends and keeps order in all courts of the county, which the Sheriffs' Association describes as providing court security [2, 3].
  • Takes photographs, fingerprints and other identification data from people held for crimes, and DNA samples for felonies [2].
  • Reports twice a year to the Indiana Department of Correction the average daily cost of holding a jail prisoner [2].
  • Holds state prisoners, including people convicted of Level 6 felonies, in the county jail, for which the state reimburses counties at a daily rate set in the state budget [7].
  • Coordinates emergency response and works with local police, prosecutors and community partners [3].
  • In a county whose council creates a sheriff's merit board by ordinance, appoints three of its five members, while the county police officers elect the other two; no more than two sheriff appointees and one elected member may belong to the same party [8].
  • Must report information to federal authorities when a person arrested for a felony or misdemeanor is believed to lack legal immigration status, and, since July 2026, notify the judge setting bail when holding a person subject to an immigration detainer [9, 10].
  • May supervise and inspect businesses such as pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers [2].
  • What the sheriff does not control: the county commissioners must establish and maintain the county jail building [11]; the county makes the appropriation for feeding prisoners and sets the sheriff's salary [5]; the prosecuting attorney decides which crimes to prosecute [12]; and judges decide bail [13].

Tipton County's numbers for this office

Legal Insights county office research (Oct. 13, 2026): Indiana Gateway budgets 2019-2026 and the indicator sources linked on each line.

This office's 2026 budget

$1,456,888

7.0% of the county's adopted 2026 budget · 28% more than 2019, before inflation

2019: $1,133,8102020: $1,187,1692021: $1,230,8702022: $1,376,2552023: $1,418,7942024: $1,560,4802025: $1,476,7282026: $1,456,888
2019 $1,133,8102026 $1,456,888
The year-by-year figures

Adopted budget, all funds, 2019-2026 (not adjusted for inflation)

  • 2019: $1,133,810
  • 2020: $1,187,169
  • 2021: $1,230,870
  • 2022: $1,376,255
  • 2023: $1,418,794
  • 2024: $1,560,480
  • 2025: $1,476,728
  • 2026: $1,456,888

Budget lines counted: 0005 COUNTY SHERIFF

Adopted 2026 county budget (Form 1 line items, Form 4B) and earlier years' budgets

Elected official's pay, 2026 budget line

$91,706

From the county budget; verify against the county's 2026 salary ordinance. A line can include longevity pay or a second role.

Budgeted separately, not included above: jail/detention center (depts 0380, 0381), $1.3 million.

  • Counties budget the jail differently: some put jail costs in the sheriff's department, others in a separate jail department. Compare the sheriff and jail together across counties.

Also on the record for this office

  • rated capacity: 27.0
  • latest jail count: 72
  • count date: 2024 (Vera v3.1)
  • IDOC holds: 4
  • IDOC holds date: 2026-08-01
  • federal (USMS/ICE) housing: not found
  • jail operating budget 2026: 1266074.0
  • sheriff dept actual 2025: 1405652.0
  • jail actual 2025: 1077636.0
  • jail project: [Vera jail-construction file, unverified] 2019 New Jail (Passed, $15.1M, beds 27->80)

Measured, for this county

A position compares this county with counties of similar size. It is not a grade: for most measures a higher or lower number is neither good nor bad on its own.

Jail cost per inmate-day · 2025 spend / 2024 ADP

$41.01

2025 jail spending divided by the 2024 average daily population times 365.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: partial: the sheriff runs the jail and staffs it; the council funds it; state jail standards set minimum staffing; courts and prosecutors drive how many people are held

Position 17 of 19 counties with under 25,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

Average daily jail population · 2024

72

People held on an average day.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: partial: jail population depends on arrests, charging, bail and sentencing decisions by police, prosecutors and judges; the sheriff manages housing and transfers

Position 8 of 30 counties with under 25,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

Share of people in jail awaiting trial · 2019

90.0%

People held before trial as a share of the jail population.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low to partial for the sheriff: pretrial detention is decided by courts (bail) and prosecutors (charging); the county funds pretrial services

Position 5 of 29 counties with under 25,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

Reported crimes per 1,000 residents · 2025

7.2

Offenses reported by police agencies county-wide (agencies with full-year reporting), not only the sheriff's office.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low to partial: the sheriff patrols mainly unincorporated areas; city and town police cover most residents in larger counties

Position 3 of 12 counties with under 25,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

About this race

  • Sheriff Matt Tebbe is completing his first term and is eligible to run again; he faces Republican Craig R. Henderson on November 3, 2026 [18, 6].
  • Both candidates were unopposed in the May 5, 2026 primary: Henderson received 1,828 Republican votes and Tebbe 573 Democratic votes [18].
  • In 2022 the seat was open; the Republican primary between deputy Korey Henderson and jail matron Lea Stout was separated by one vote in unofficial results, and Stout was the Republican nominee in November [23, 19, 16].
  • A public forum with Tebbe and Henderson was scheduled for September 30, 2026 at the Tipton High School auditorium, with questions written by the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police and a neutral moderator; organizers described it as a public-information event focused on the duties and challenges of a county sheriff [24]. No coverage of what was said at the forum was found.

Candidates on the ballot

Craig R Henderson

Republican

Craig R. Henderson is the Republican nominee, unopposed in the May 2026 primary [18]. His background and platform were not found in available coverage.

How Henderson got on the ballot

  • Won the May 5, 2026 Republican primary unopposed with 1,828 votes [18, 6].

What we could not find about Henderson

  • Coverage is very thin: no campaign website, social-media page, questionnaire, interview or forum report was found.
  • Possible match, not confirmed: the county's list of former sheriffs includes a Craig Henderson who served 2002–2006 [17]; no source reviewed confirms that this is the 2026 candidate.
  • He is a different person by first name from Korey Henderson, who ran in the 2022 Republican sheriff primary; any relationship was not checked.
  • Who appeared at and what was said at the September 30, 2026 forum is not known.
  • No verified biographical information was found in available coverage.
  • No campaign plans were found in available coverage.
  • No statements by Henderson about Sheriff Tebbe's record were found in available coverage.
  • No endorsements or campaign-finance totals were found in available coverage.

Sources for Henderson

Matt Tebbe

DemocraticIncumbent

Matt Tebbe is the incumbent Tipton County sheriff, first elected in 2022 after a career with the Tipton County Sheriff's Department that the Kokomo Tribune put at 22 years at the time [16].

Tebbe's background

  • Tipton County sheriff since 2023 [17].
  • Before his election, a deputy with the Tipton County Sheriff's Department; described in November 2022 as a 22-year veteran of the department [23, 16].

Tebbe's positions

Drugs

  • His statement on the county website asks residents to report suspicious activity and points to an anonymous tip line for criminal or drug activity, saying the office will 'conduct any follow-up investigation as needed' [20].

Staffing & pay

  • After his 2022 election he said he would announce staffing positions so that 'nobody's second guessing who's going to be doing what' [16].

Tebbe on the current officeholder

  • Is the current officeholder. No statements by Tebbe about his challenger were found.

How Tebbe got on the ballot

  • Won the May 5, 2026 Democratic primary unopposed with 573 votes [18, 6].
  • In the 2022 Democratic primary he defeated Deputy Travis Rhoades [23, 19].

What we could not find about Tebbe

  • No 2026 campaign website, questionnaire or interview was found; his record in office (budget, jail population, staffing) is thinly covered in sources that could be read.
  • Tipton County Council minutes are not posted on the county website, so the sheriff's budget requests could not be reviewed for this profile.
  • No 2026 campaign plans were found in available coverage.
  • No endorsements or campaign-finance totals were found in available coverage.

Sources for Tebbe

Key points

  • Sheriff Matt Tebbe is completing his first term and is eligible to run again; he faces Republican Craig R. Henderson on November 3, 2026. (Tipton County)
  • In Jan 2026 the council appropriated $292,000 from the justice-center LIT fund for jail supplies, prisoner meals ($165,000) and maintenance. The 2025 debt report lists $5.84M in 2018 jail lease-rental bonds. (tiptongov.com)

Sources

Researched Sunday, October 11, 2026

  1. 2026 Indiana Candidate Guide (County Offices: County Sheriff) (Indiana Election Division)
  2. Indiana Code 36-2-13-5: Duties of sheriff (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  3. 2026 ISA President Statement (Jeffrey A. Balon, Porter County Sheriff) (Indiana Sheriffs' Association)
  4. Indiana Code 36-2-13-2: Sheriff residency and term (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  5. Indiana Code 36-2-13-2.8: Sheriff's salary (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  6. 2026 General Election Candidate List (Indiana Election Division)
  7. Indiana Department of Correction readies to pay $12 million in jail back payments (Indiana Capital Chronicle (via Inside INdiana Business))
  8. Indiana Code 36-8-10-3: Sheriff's merit board (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  9. Braun signs bill into law requiring jails to tell ICE about potential immigration violations (Network Indiana (via WMNC 95.3))
  10. Illegally in Indiana: New state law aims at cracking down on illegal immigration (WNDU)
  11. Indiana Code 36-2-2-24: County courthouse, jail and offices (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  12. Indiana Code 33-39-1-5: Duties of prosecuting attorneys (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  13. Amendment to deny bail to some offenders moves closer to November ballot (WFYI (via Indiana Public Media))
  14. Tipton County elects new sheriff (Kokomo Tribune (via Yahoo News))
  15. Former Sheriff's (Tipton County)
  16. 2026 Primary Election Results (Election Summary Report) (Tipton County)
  17. Wild night in Tipton Co Sheriff race (Kokomo Tribune (via Yahoo News))
  18. Sheriff's Office (Tipton County)
  19. Primary sheriff election comes down to 1 vote in Tipton County (FOX59)
  20. Tipton County voters can hear from their Sheriff candidates (The Reporter)
What's included
the U.S. House, statewide offices, every Indiana House and Senate district on the ballot, Indiana's statewide public questions and judicial retention questions, and county, township, city, town and school board races from the Indiana Election Division's candidate list.
Everything else
Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: IndianaVoters.in.gov.
Candidate lists
As of Sunday, October 18, 2026.
At the polls
Indiana law lets you bring a list of candidates and public questions into the polling place, including one stored on your phone, as long as you don't electioneer. IC 3-11-8-18.5

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.