Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones has fired top deputy Cam Hunt following Hunt’s decision to run for sheriff in 2026.
Jones’ decision came early last week, according to a termination letter he sent Hunt, but the firing was first made public by a social media post from Hunt over the weekend.
The letter from Jones makes clear that he fired Hunt, a veteran, specifically because of his decision to run for sheriff.
“… (Y)ou informed me that you had made the decision to oppose me and run for the position of Lee County Sheriff in the upcoming election,” Jones wrote in the letter to Hunt. “You indicated that you were sure you wished to run and that you had given it much consideration. As a result of your decision, I am placed in the position of terminating your employment as a Deputy Sheriff for Lee County. This action is effective immediately.”
In the Facebook post in which he spoke about the firing, Hunt seemed to criticize Jones for policing their thoughts and controlling what they said or wrote. He promised to change that culture if elected.
“Leadership means respecting the people who serve beside you, not trying to control their voices,” Hunt wrote. “The Sheriff’s Office should stand as a safeguard of liberty, not an obstacle to it.”
The firing of deputies who chose to run for sheriff is not a new practice. In fact, it has become such a problem that several states, such as Florida and California, have passed laws that protect deputies from retaliation for “off-duty political actions.”
Alabama, however, has no such laws and sheriffs are free to terminate deputies who challenge them. The practice has been widely criticized, however, and is typically viewed as an obvious tactic to prevent qualified candidates from seeking the office.
