{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nJames Donald Slape Jr. (J.D. Slape) is a Republican candidate for Catawba County Sheriff who filed on December 8, 2025, from Hickory, NC. He ran in the March 3, 2026 Republican primary, placing third among four candidates with 1,096 votes.\n\nHis campaign priorities included taking care of deputies, properly staffing road patrol and the jail, and improving pay to keep pace with Catawba County's growing cost of living.\n\n## Career\nSlape has nearly 25 years of law enforcement experience across every division of a sheriff's office, including road patrol, the jail, courts, school resource work, and community engagement.\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [J.D. Slape for Sheriff of Catawba County](https://www.jdslapeforcatawbasheriff.com/)\n- [2] [Catawba County 2026 sheriff candidates talk ICE, gang violence, crime solutions \u2013 Hickory Record](https://hickoryrecord.com/news/local/government-politics/elections/article_45e575a2-870c-4f10-92ad-7e7f6b44dedd.html)\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"catawba","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Catawba County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"James","fullname":"James Donald Slape JR","lastname":"Slape","middlename":"Donald","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Catawba County Sheriff","county":"catawba","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"catawba","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"catawba","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Catawba County Sheriff","county":"catawba","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"catawba","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"REP","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"suffix":"JR","terms":[],"token":"6e8b1a78f8800f56"}