EVERETT, Wash. — Though incumbent Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney lost to challenger Susanna Johnson in the November General Election, he says you haven’t seen the last of him.
In a Nov. 22 Facebook post, Fortney said though he would no longer be sheriff next year, he wouldn’t be getting a job elsewhere.
Starting Feb. 1, 2024, Fortney will return to his prior rank of sergeant to run a patrol crew out of the north precinct in Marysville, where he’ll be responsible for all of North Snohomish County.
“This is exactly where I was when I got elected in 2019 and I go right back there,” he said in the post.
He acknowledged that after being sheriff for four years, returning to patrol would be awkward, but just at first.
“Running a patrol crew is the best job in the Office and I’m all in!” he said.
Fortney said his only regret post-election was that there wouldn’t be a new precinct early next year.
“I regret that my team will not be able to see their incredible hard work come to fruition in the form of a multi-million-dollar new state-of-the-art precinct in early 2024, in the form of obtaining accreditation (January 2024), and our hiring is simply off the charts because of all of their hard work. That part is sad to me,” he said.
As far as running for sheriff in the future, he said he couldn’t yet answer that question.
“This past year (has) taken a lot out of me and not in a good way, so maybe I can answer that at a later time, but definitely not now,” Fortney wrote.