Sheriff Tanner endorses Seifert to succeed him in Beaufort County. Here’s what he said
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner shared who he believes is the “perfect choice” for the county’s next top law enforcement official. On Monday, after the filing period officially closed, the longtime sheriff endorsed Doug Seifert, a 20-year department veteran, in an interview with The Island Packet.
Seifert, a Hilton Head Republican, was the first candidate to enter the race for the county’s top law enforcement job after Tanner announced he would not seek reelection following nearly three decades as sheriff.
Highlighting Seifert’s work ethic, familiarity with communities north and south of the Broad River and pre-existing respect inside the agency, Tanner said he would be “extremely proud” for Seifert to take the reins after he retires at the end of the year.
Seifert started with the department in 2006, working first in enforcement for several years before moving to investigations. Most recently, he was promoted to Lieutenant of the department’s southern enforcement branch. Per department policy, Seifert formally resigned from his role with the sheriff’s office before submitting the candidate paperwork.
In Seifert’s many years with the department, Tanner said, he has had to make tough decisions when supervising and investigating serious cases ranging from child abuse and homicide cases to vehicle break-ins and burglaries. Along the way, he honed both his attention to detail, empathy for victims and respect for the community, Tanner said.
Tanner described Seifert as someone you “have to send home” because he “will come to work any day of the week and work 24 hours if he needs to.”
“No one can out-work him,” Tanner said. “You don’t find that in everyone today.”
Seifert started his career in politics working as a town councilman in North Bend, Ohio, but has always wanted to become sheriff, he formerly told The Island Packet.
If elected, Seifert previously said, he would continue pushing for higher salaries to attract a larger pool of qualified deputies to fill the department’s vacant positions. He also wants to take a more proactive approach to youth violence and strengthen the department’s traffic and drug enforcement efforts.
“He is a great flag to be waved in Beaufort County,” said Tanner.
Who else is running?
Seifert is among three total candidates running, including repeat Republican challenger Joey “JoJo” Woodward Jr. and Democratic candidate Alphonso Small.
Woodward and Seifert will face off in the June 9 GOP primary, and the winner will advance to compete in the Nov. 3 general election. In a social media post, Woodward wrote “it is clear that our community is ready for strong leadership, greater transparency and a renewed focus on the issues that matter most — traffic, crime and violence, and accountability.”
In previous matchups, Tanner and Woodward sparred over fiscal transparency in the sheriff’s office and what Woodward described as the department’s lackluster relationship with the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Tanner said that while this will be Woodward’s third campaign for sheriff, “he is not the candidate that citizens need to look at, and he would not be what Beaufort County needs as the elected chair.”
Small, the only Democratic candidate, said he would prioritize engaging more with the community, strengthening connections with the county’s youth and improving department morale in a previous interview with The Island Packet.
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 3:06 PM.
