PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Former El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini is preparing for a return to county politics and law enforcement leadership, announcing Saturday that he intends to run for sheriff in 2028 and urging current Sheriff Jeff Leikauf to retire before then.
The announcement represents a significant reversal in the relationship between the two men.
D’Agostini said his decision followed what he described as continuing conversations with employees of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office and community members.
“First, I apologize to the employees of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, and to the citizens of El Dorado County,” D’Agostini said in his announcement.
He said he believed the organization he left behind would continue moving forward after his retirement and that he strongly supported Leikauf’s transition into the position.
“Your current Sheriff was my choice,” D’Agostini said. “I endorsed him, helped his campaign path to office, and we were successful.”
Leikauf was unopposed when he ran for sheriff in 2022. California’s official election results show Leikauf received 44,365 votes in the contest, with no opposing candidate listed.
D’Agostini now says he believes that choice was a mistake.
“As time has progressed it has become clear that the focus has shifted away from serving the Office and the community to the current Sheriff’s individual priorities,” D’Agostini said. “He is not the leader I believed he would be.”
D’Agostini went further, accusing Leikauf of failing the agency and the communities it serves.
A return to the ballot in 2028
D’Agostini said he intends to run for the office in 2028 if Leikauf remains sheriff.
The county Elections Department has confirmed that, under changes to the election schedule, the next election for sheriff is scheduled for March 7, 2028. The sheriff’s term elected in 2022 was extended to six years under state law.
D’Agostini also raised the possibility of returning to office before the election.
“If the current Sheriff does the right thing for the agency and community by retiring before then, I will seek appointment by the Board of Supervisors for the remainder of the term,” he said.
California law provides that vacancies in elective county offices generally are filled by the Board of Supervisors, with the appointee serving the applicable unexpired term. State law specifically provides that the sheriff is an elected county office and that vacancies are filled under the law governing elective county offices.
D’Agostini called on Leikauf to retire and specifically referenced Dec. 30, 2026, as what he described as Leikauf’s most favorable retirement date.
There is no indication in the public county sources reviewed for this article that Leikauf has announced plans to retire.
From successor to political challenger
The announcement is particularly notable because D’Agostini was not simply a predecessor to Leikauf. He was an important political supporter during Leikauf’s successful transition to the sheriff’s office.
Leikauf joined the Sheriff’s Office in 1990 as a correctional officer at the South Lake Tahoe jail and later advanced through the agency. In 2022, while still a lieutenant, he was preparing to assume the sheriff’s position after running unopposed.
D’Agostini served as El Dorado County sheriff for 12 years before retiring in January 2023. A 2026 government document from neighboring Mono County describes D’Agostini as having more than three decades of California public safety and law enforcement leadership experience and identifies his El Dorado County tenure as 12 years.
The county also named its public safety facility after D’Agostini in 2023. The Board of Supervisors approved the naming following a proposal by Supervisor Brooke Turnboo, with private donations designated to cover the signage.
A public dedication ceremony followed in August 2023. County records said Leikauf participated in the ceremony alongside D’Agostini, county officials and community members.
That facility now bears the name Sheriff John D’Agostini Public Safety Facility — the same location D’Agostini says he intends to use for the formal kickoff of a potential campaign.
Budget and leadership concerns
D’Agostini said restoring what he considers the proper direction of the Sheriff’s Office would not require a major undertaking, arguing that institutional knowledge from his administration remains within the department.
“The institutional knowledge of my administration is still intrinsically ingrained — which is why staff continue to contact me,” he said.
He also acknowledged that repairing the department’s finances could take time.
“The budget will take a cycle or two to repair, but it will be done,” D’Agostini said.
Public county budget documents show that the Sheriff’s Office remains one of the county’s major governmental operations. The county’s 2026-27 recommended budget includes a dedicated Sheriff’s Office budget and continues to identify public safety as a central county responsibility.
“Public safety is not personal nor political”
D’Agostini framed his announcement as an effort to refocus the Sheriff’s Office on employees, taxpayers and public safety rather than personalities.
“I encourage everyone to stand by all the employees of the Sheriff’s Office as they are committed to all our safety,” he said.
He also delivered his clearest political message near the conclusion of his announcement:
“Public safety is not personal nor political. It is a basic human right.”
D’Agostini accused the current sheriff of making the office too dependent on personal loyalty and political support, describing Leikauf as a
“despotic leader” who, in D’Agostini’s words, “only cares if you are contributing to him and his campaign.”
The Sheriff’s Office’s published mission, meanwhile, describes its responsibility as enforcing criminal and civil law, supporting allied law enforcement agencies, providing humane treatment to people in custody and responding to community needs while adhering to state and federal constitutions.
A campaign years before Election Day
D’Agostini said that if a campaign is necessary, the official kickoff will occur in 2027, directly in front of the Sheriff John D’Agostini Public Safety Facility. The specific date TBD.
That location would give the proposed campaign launch an unmistakable symbolic backdrop: a county facility built during D’Agostini’s tenure, later named for him, and now serving as the headquarters of the Sheriff’s Office led by the man he once endorsed.
For El Dorado County voters, the political implications could extend well beyond a contest between two former colleagues.
The Sheriff’s Office provides law enforcement services throughout the county’s unincorporated communities, while also carrying responsibilities involving the county jail, courts and other public safety functions. The office’s published mission emphasizes both enforcement and service to victims, witnesses and the community.
D’Agostini’s announcement places the leadership of that agency squarely into the county’s political conversation nearly two years before the scheduled 2028 sheriff’s election.
For now, however, the central question is whether the confrontation announced Saturday becomes a campaign — or whether the leadership of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office changes before voters have an opportunity to decide.
