Mimicking the upended presidential race, when two men well past retirement age were vying for the nation’s highest office, the Palm Beach County sheriff’s race features two 76-year-old men battling to become the county’s top cop.
And, like the presidential race that took a historic turn when President Joe Biden stepped aside after an incoherent debate performance, the health of the incumbent in the sheriff’s contest has become an issue.
Republican Mike Gauger insists that his Democratic opponent and former boss, , suffers from a weak heart made obvious by his reliance on a rare medical implant that he won’t publicly acknowledge.
Bradshaw’s physical health is critical, Gauger maintains, because the sheriff oversees whose 4,000 employees provide law enforcement for much of the county and run the county’s 1,850-bed jail.
“Sheriff Ric Bradshaw is SERIOUSLY ILL and is no longer ‘FIT TO SERVE,’” Gauger claims on his . “His health is deteriorating by the day.”
Gauger, who worked for the agency for 50 years and was chief deputy under Bradshaw before retiring in 2021, does more than throw barbs. — ones he said he confirmed during a private conversation with the sheriff in 2023.
When Bradshaw was hospitalized for , he had a left ventricular assist device, known as an LVAD, implanted to keep his heart pumping, Gauger said. He said he first gleaned the information from unidentified people who are close to the sheriff.
Gauger said he asked Bradshaw about it during a March 2023 meeting at a Starbucks when he told his former boss he planned to run against him. Gauger said he asked Bradshaw why he would risk seeking a record-setting sixth term.
“‘Ric, what are you doing? You have a pump that runs your heart,’” Gauger recalled asking Bradshaw. “He said, ‘I’m OK. I can’t sit at home.’”
Pacemaker vs. LVAD
Gauger has had his share of heart problems. About eight years ago, Gauger said, he had a valve replacement. Two years ago, he had a pacemaker implanted.
“The difference is my heart is strong as compared to Ric’s that is not,” Gauger said.
He said his two-wire internal pacemaker makes sure two chambers of his heart are operating in sync. “It maintains the status quo,” he said.
An external battery-operated LVAD, in contrast, is implanted when someone is experiencing severe or what is described as “end stage” heart failure, according to multiple online medical publications. It .
In some cases, it is used to buy time so a patient can get a heart transplant. For those ineligible for heart transplants, the device simply extends the patient’s lifespan.
Survival rates vary from a median of more than five years with 68% experiencing significant improvement, according to of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, .
Bradshaw representatives declined to say what type of device the sheriff had implanted.
Sheriff hospitalized in July
In , Bradshaw discussed a July 6 health scare, in which he collapsed while shopping at his neighborhood Publix and spent three days in the hospital.
He described having a monitor implanted in his chest that lets him know if his heart is beating too fast.
“They put one of the implants in you that monitors your heart, and it monitors the number of beats and when it gets too high, and they think I’m in jeopardy, it will jolt me a little bit just to let me know that I need to call the doctor and go to the emergency room,” he said.
He dismissed the terminology used by firefighters that said he was given advanced life support.
“So, I don’t know their terminology, but it wasn’t anything, I didn’t even lay on the stretcher inside the rig,” Bradshaw told Parker.
‘The Sheriff is absolutely fine!’
Since , Bradshaw repeatedly has described his health as robust and blasted those who say otherwise.
“It’s a shame I even have to talk about this but I think you’ve got to hear this from my mouth. All the rumors circulating around. ‘The sheriff died. He’s in bad health. He can’t function.’ Really? I don’t think so,” he said .
Giving the cheering crowd a defiant thumbs up, he promised to run for a sixth, four-year term.
Formally announcing his candidacy in May 2023, he has repeatedly insisted his health is good.
Even his wife, Dorothy, has weighed in.
“The Sheriff is absolutely fine! He does not have Cancer or is he on deaths bed,” she wrote in a January Facebook post. “The other candidates would love to be as healthy as the Sheriff.”
On Sept. 4, she posted a smiling photo of her husband and blasted Gauger for continuing to claim that the sheriff is ill. “Ric’s opponent needs to stop telling lies about Ric’s health!!” she wrote. “Does this man look unhealthy?”
Teri Barbera, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, declined to say whether the sheriff had the LVAD implanted. But, she and others pointed out that Bradshaw is an active sheriff.
And he’s been , with the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and the tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton.
He gave and news conferences throughout the run-up and response to Milton and appeared at several nationally televised news conferences to explain his agency’s steps to protect the former president after the Sept. 15 assassination attempt.
Effect on the rank and file
Barbera also provided a letter from Bradshaw’s doctor, attesting to the sheriff’s good health.
“Sheriff Bradshaw is an individual of unusual vigor, stamina, toughness and intelligence — qualities that will serve Palm Beach County residents well into the future,” wrote Dr. Robert Fishel, who is board certified in cardiac electrophysiology.
A specialized type of cardiologist, electrophysiologists treat the heart’s electrical system that controls heart rhythm. Fischel’s website for his practice, , lists various types of devices that can be implanted to restore regular heart rhythm but does not mention LVADs.
In his letter, Fishel didn’t say whether Bradshaw had an LVAD. But he said Bradshaw is not on dialysis, a side effect Gauger claims besets LVAD recipients.
“Sheriff Bradshaw is not on dialysis, nor is that something anticipated either now or in the future,” Fishel wrote.
But four former or current county leaders, who declined to let their names be used for publication, said they, too, understood that Bradshaw had some type of device implanted to keep his heart pumping. Gauger, they said, wasn’t the source of their information.
One former leader named the device. Others said they heard it was some type of pump and that Bradshaw’s condition was serious.
A high-ranking sheriff’s official said Bradshaw’s heart problems are well-known and worrisome to the rank-and-file. The officer, who declined to let his name be used because he said he fears retaliation, is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 50, which endorsed Gauger.
“Maybe they don’t know (the name of the device), but they know that he’s had a device installed to keep his heart pumping,” the officer said.
‘He is a very healthy human being’
Bradshaw supporters readily acknowledged that Bradshaw isn’t as robust as he was when first elected sheriff 20 years ago after serving as police chief in West Palm Beach. But, they said, that shouldn’t concern deputies or voters.
Andre Fladell, a longtime Delray Beach political activist and self-proclaimed county kingmaker, described Gauger’s claims as “classless” and irrelevant.
“The public needs to be concerned about Ric Bradshaw’s mental state. They shouldn’t be concerned about whether he can run the 100-yard dash,” Fladell said.
Fladell said he has talked with Bradshaw about his health several times over the last six months. Heart failure never came up, he said.
“He is a very healthy human being,” Fladdell said. “He can’t look like he’s 25, because he’s not.”
But, he said, Bradshaw is mentally sharp. “He doesn’t stutter when he talks,” he said. “He doesn’t talk slowly. He doesn’t lose track of statistics or data.
“My concern for a sheriff is his ability to think, articulate and reason,” Fladell said. Bradshaw can do that.
“His job doesn’t require physical activity,” he said. “That’s the job of a deputy.”
Release medical records
, who is backing Gauger, disagreed.
Being a sheriff is far more than sitting behind a desk, reviewing reports or participating in news conferences, Scarola said.
“It is certainly something voters should be concerned about whether someone seeking a high-level police position has the physical stamina to fulfill the responsibilities of the job,” he said.
Scarola, who has criticized Bradshaw for not cracking down on deputies for unnecessarily using deadly force and has successfully sued the agency for unjustified shootings, said he hasn’t spoken to Bradshaw about his health. But, he said, Bradshaw has aged rapidly in recent years. “He does not appear well,” Scarola said.
The best way to resolve the issue is for Bradshaw to release his medical records, Scarola said.
“He needs not only to be qualified by virtue of his experience and his record but he needs to demonstrate that he has the physical capability to do the job,” Scarola said.
Barbera did not respond when asked in an email whether Bradshaw would publicly disclose his records.
Gauger offered a challenge to Bradshaw. “I will release all my medical records if Ric will release his,” he said.
This story was originally published by , a WLRN News partner.
