Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt says 'I'll be pursuing ministry once again' beginning in January

MILWAUKEE COUNTY -- After Earnell Lucas' primary victory in the race for Milwaukee County sheriff, Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt said he intends to "fill out" the remaining four months of his term, and then return to ministry.

In his concession speech, Schmidt said "as the people of Milwaukee County have become very aware, I'm also very involved in church work, and when these four months are done, I'll be out pursuing the ministry once again, and reaching folks with what I believe is most important, and that's the gospel of Christ," said Schmidt.

Lucas defeated Schmidt 57 percent to 34 percent. With no Republican opponent, he will become Milwaukee County sheriff. He is currently a Major League Baseball executive.

Schmidt was appointed by Governor Scott Walker to serve out the remainder of ex-Sheriff David Clarke's term (until January 2019) -- and faced two big hurdles in the primary race. First, how voters would view his seven years as Clarke's second in command. The second -- with a competitive Republican U.S. Senate primary, it was possible few Milwaukee County GOP voters would cross over to vote in the Democratic primary for sheriff.

In his speech Tuesday night, Schmidt said "the American people exercised their right to vote, to choose not just the first probable sheriff of Milwaukee County, but other key elected officials. I wish to thank first of all our campaign cabinet, and the governor for allowing me to serve as the sheriff this past year. It’s been my honor. County government leaders who worked with me and our over 700 wonderful members of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office that brought very positive change to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office -- for that I am thankful. The people have voted and they have chosen Mr. Earnell Lucas to move forward in his quest to become the Milwaukee County sheriff. I called Mr. Lucas just a few minutes ago and congratulated him on his primary win and wished him God speed. We had an excellent conversation and I truly will stand behind Mr. Lucas as he pursues his quest to become the next Milwaukee County sheriff. The last four months I will approach as I did the first 12 and that is seize every moment. I’m not going to stop for the four months. When I turn the sheriff’s office over to Mr. Lucas, it will have a balanced budget. We’ll have made progress on expressways, getting aggressive speeders down and drunk drivers. The biggest thing I’m going to turn over is a sheriff’s office that doesn’t fight elected officials anymore -- an office that’s restored integrity and honor. I believe for whatever reason the lord put me in this position the last year. I have perfect peace about what’s taken place I have much much work to do in  other fields which I will p vigorously I’ll seize every moment doing what god has called me to do. So again for these last four months the sheriff’s office will have my undivided attention  we’ll give it 100 percent," said Schmidt.

A spokeswoman confirmed Schmidt will be retiring in January -- but it's a reversal from what Schmidt told FOX6 News on the eve of the primary election.

"I have no intentions of retiring. Everything’s been about, 'well, if he retires, what’s he going to do?' First of all, let’s make it clear: I had absolutely nothing to do with this pension scandal that’s going on. This is something that happened way back in a previous administration. I’ve been to the retirement office once about a year ago. I have no idea what the numbers are. The only reason I’ve been to the retirement office is, I was going overseas to Israel and I wanted to make sure if something happened to me over there, my kids were taken care of. So I’ve heard multiple numbers -- 'well, you might be getting XX' -- and I’ve heard three, four numbers recently in the media. Let me make it real clear: I’m not retiring. I intend to stay here. I intend to fight through this election process. I’m looking to the community to keep me exactly where I’m at. I need the community’s support. I want to be here -- and the way to make sure I don’t collect retirement? Elect me on tomorrow and we’ll stay here and not worry about retirement benefits," said Schmidt on Monday, Aug. 13.

Earnell Lucas had this to say in a one-on-one interview with FOX6 News after his victory Tuesday night:

"It was a hard-fought victory.  I’ll say that.  My hat's off to my opponents.  He kept it an upbeat campaign. I had a team in place that executed a plan that we put in place months ago.  We executed it almost flawlessly.  I’m grateful it culminated with victory here tonight. We’ve got to work to restore the honor and trust back in our community.  I talked with Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt earlier tonight.  He pledged to work with me to help me and my transition team get up to where we need to be. I’ve confident that once we come in, we can help restore the honor and trust not only with the public we serve, but with the rank and file and members of the organization so we can make the county strong and safe," said Lucas.