{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nDemetrio Guzman Perez ran as a Democratic candidate for Cumberland County Sheriff in the 2026 primary in Fayetteville, North Carolina.\n\nPerez's top priority is restoring the visibility of the sheriff's office through community engagement and returning school resource officers to sheriff's office oversight; the agency had provided SROs since 1998 but did not renew the contract in 2024.\n\n## Background and education\nPerez is a Texas native who moved to Fayetteville in 1979 when the U.S. Army brought him there. He spent 20 years in the military before transitioning to civilian law enforcement. He is bilingual and has served as a bilingual hostage negotiator.\n\n## Career\nFollowing his military service, Perez spent 18 years as a deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. His experience spanned school resource work, gang investigations, supervisory roles, bilingual hostage negotiation, recruiting, and polygraph examinations. He currently works as a security specialist for Cumberland County Schools.\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [Meet the 4 Democrats Running for Cumberland County Sheriff \u2013 CityView NC](https://www.cityviewnc.com/stories/meet-the-4-democrats-running-for-cumberland-county-sheriff/)\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"cumberland","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Cumberland County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Demetrio","fullname":"Demetrio Guzman Perez","lastname":"Perez","middlename":"Guzman","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Cumberland County Sheriff","county":"cumberland","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"cumberland","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"cumberland","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Cumberland County Sheriff","county":"cumberland","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"cumberland","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"DEM","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"terms":[],"token":"48ed402d84423657"}