DATE: Wednesday, November 5, 1997           TAG: 9711050469

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3E  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   46 lines

ISAACS EASES BACK INTO THE SUFFOLK SHERIFF'S SEAT

Raleigh H. Isaacs Sr. turned back a challenge by a Norfolk deputy, easily winning re-election Tuesday to the sheriff's post he has held for four years.

Unofficial election returns late Tuesday showed Isaacs, a Democrat, earning about 81 percent of the vote, capturing each of the city's 20 precincts. His opponent, Jeffrey V. Townsend, trailed with about 19 percent of the vote.

The totals do not include absentee ballots, which are counted separately, election officials said.

Townsend, 30, ran as an independent in his first bid at politics.

Isaacs, 57, celebrated his victory at a Suffolk restaurant Tuesday night, surrounded by family, friends, employees and fellow Democrats.

``We want to thank the citizens of Suffolk for supporting us, first of all,'' Isaacs said. ``They have demonstrated their overwhelming support for the programs and things we're doing for the office.''

And, he thanked his family for ``bearing with'' him in recent months, while he campaigned.

Isaacs and Townsend both ran campaigns that focused on their own qualifications.

Isaacs, who was a police officer more than 30 years before his election in 1993, campaigned on his experience in law enforcement and his achievements in office.

He promised to keep pushing for adequate staffing to provide security for the new Mills E. Godwin Jr. Courts Building, expected to open in the spring. And he pledged to continue to staff his office with professionally trained deputies and to maintain the various public service programs he has initiated.

Isaacs first ran for the office in 1989, narrowly losing a three-way race to the incumbent, former Sheriff J. Irving Baines. In 1993, he soundly defeated Baines and three other candidates. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Isaacs

Graphic

ISAACS 81%

TOWNSEND 19% KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA RESULTS SUFFOLK

SHERIFF'S RACE

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