Interim Sheriff Brent Barnett will face challenger Israel Smith in a runoff election on June 27, 2026, for the office of Jackson Parish Sheriff. Barnett led the five candidates in the primary held on May 16th with 47% of the vote, while Smith earned a spot in the runoff by garnering 18%. A total of 4,805 votes were cast in the 31 precincts.

The runoff election for Jackson Parish Sheriff will take place on June 27th. Early voting began on Friday, June 12th, and will take place each day until Saturday, June 20th, with the exception of June 14 and June 19. To cast your ballot during the early voting dates, go to the Jackson Parish Registrar of Voters’ office in the Jackson Parish Courthouse, located at 500 East Court Avenue in Jonesboro, LA. Be sure to review your sample ballot at GeauxVote.com. prior to voting. For questions or more information, you are invited to call the Jackson Parish Clerk of Court Office at 318-259-2424.

On June 11, 2026, Elijah Mangum of KNOE-TV Channel 8 in Monroe, LA, interviewed both candidates and published the article below.

(Reprint of article written by Elijah Mangum – KNOE TV Channel 8)

JONESBORO, La. (KNOE) – Interim Jackson Parish Sheriff Brent Barnett will face off against the Jonesboro Chief of Police, Israel Smith.

Barnett says decades of experience at the Sheriff’s Office make him the most qualified candidate in the race.

“Obviously, it’s the job itself, just the experience, overall experience, but having been in law enforcement and in this office for 32 years, I think I’ve been preparing for 32 years,” Barnett said.

Smith argues that his role as Chief of Police and other law enforcement experience is just as qualifying while also providing a change for the Sheriff’s office.

The similarities of the jobs are that they almost mirror each other. As a police chief, first and foremost, I’m a police officer,” Smith said. “Stand up with the current laws, managing people, managing budgets. I mean, it’s pretty much all the same. It’s just with a different personnel number.”

Barnett says if elected, he would continue to do much of what he has already done while also expanding outreach with the community.

“Better transparency of what we do to the public and I would like to increase the capacity of availability of help for our youth, after school programs, things like that and in some ways address the mental health issues that we have going on working with other entities in the parish,” Barnett said.

While Barnett did say he wanted to address mental health, Smith says he would take a step further and has made it a priority issue in his campaign.

“I would also like to see more help with mental health. We see a lot of times that dealing with mental health almost always leads to some type of crime or things like that,” Smith said. “I think that if we start combating those areas, we can be more efficient in policing.”

To view the interview that was aired on KNOE-TV on June 11, 2026, click here or go to https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CHzTVxHc3/

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