If you’ve driven through Pierce County, more than likely you’ve seen “Elect Mike McFadden Sheriff” signs along the roadsides. “Held to a Higher Standard,” it says. Just who is Mike McFadden, the guy in the cowboy hat, and why is he running for Pierce County Sheriff? Just how did this Texas native end up in northwestern Wisconsin? He and current Pierce County Sheriff Chad Koranda will be on the Republican partisan primary ballot on Aug. 11.

McFadden became a patrol deputy with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office in January 2024. Since that time, he has been promoted to sergeant on the night patrol shift. He is also a member of the Emergency Response Unit team, a field training officer, a Taser instructor and one of the few law enforcement certified phlebotomists in the state.

“My past years of experience, clearly there has been a respect to allow me to advance in such a short period of time,” McFadden said. “I’m the oldest guy on patrol by quite a bit. Either way, I’m going to have respect for Chad. He gave me a job.”

So why is McFadden running against his boss, who is seeking re-election? The answer isn’t simple, but it boils down to a question he had to consider while serving in the military: What comes first, the men or the mission?

“I believe as a whole we need to get back to focusing on the care, the well-being, the training and the resources to the men (and women) so they can carry out the mission with the highest regard and due diligence,” McFadden said. “If we don’t have men and women of character, resolve and integrity, they cannot complete the mission of protecting those who have elected them, who pay taxes, because then they become no more than self-serving people with the right to carry a gun.”

McFadden believes police officers need to re-earn citizens’ trust and respect by leading with character, leadership, morals and integrity. Despite having to declare a party, he believes in upholding the laws of the state and country without bias.

“I wish I could just say I am running for sheriff without being associated with a party,” he said. “When I have had people who have asked, how are you going to separate what you believe in your faith, I am to be unbiased in how I uphold and serve. However, without faith, it’s not to say that I’m better, but I’m held to a higher standard in both my personal life and professional life. If you have people who are not held up to a higher standard, you have immoral people enforcing law on other immoral people and how is that going to work?”

“Change is never easy, but sometimes change is absolutely necessary. If all we do is keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, we’re just riding a different merry go round and never getting off.”

McFadden wants people to ask questions about PCSO, such as why are established veteran officers leaving? Why are people being hired and sent to the police academy either quitting or being let go halfway through their field training? Why is the DARE officer position vacant?

McFadden’s background

“If you paint my life story, give a 3-year-old a crayon and a blank piece of paper. The greatest thing about that analogy is that you will look at that piece of paper and you will cherish it for where it came from, not what it looks like,” McFadden said.

McFadden was born just south of Dallas. Right before high school, he and his family moved to a little town called Maypearl. After high school, he went to junior college just north of Waco. After about a year in college, some difficulties prompted him to enlist in the Army National Guard to try to help his family. He served for a total of 15 years.

“Not long after Basic, I came back and had a knack and was pinned for Active Duty for Special Work,” McFadden said. “I spent the next couple of years doing active-duty assignment, testing and evaluation on the military’s version of laser tag, tanks, helicopters and fighter jets and having mock battles between solders on the ground.”

He soon became a recruiter’s assistant, then enrolled in the police academy in October 1999.

“I was encouraged by police officers that I would have frequent interactions with… and yes, good interactions,” McFadden said. “When I applied, there were between 600-700 applicants that showed up to the city civic center to take the entrance test. After several check points, a strenuous background investigation, multiple interviews and panels, the department accepted 18 of us.”

Once hired by the Abilene Police Department, he went back to doing typical Army National Guard duty. Then 9/11 happened.

“I remember driving to my guard duty weekend, and I was going down early. I was a sergeant and went. On 9/11 when the first plane hit, my girlfriend called me and told me,” he said. “As soon as I pulled into the Armory, it was just chaos. We fired up tanks and brought them out front of the Armory, I jumped in my uniform and got ready for the world to end.”

He made the decision to go back to full-time active duty and went on a pre-deployment down to Ft. Hood. He left for Iraq in December 2004 where he was personal security detail for team leaders, dignitaries and VIPs. When he returned in December 2005, he trained follow-on units (a secondary military force designated to move into an area after an initial lead unit has secured an objective.)

“Because of the tactics we developed in country over there, we would train the units that were going. I stayed on to close to another year,” McFadden said. “I was getting ready for a second deployment in 2008. While training, I had some substantial back injuries. In 2011, I was medically retired on my 15^th anniversary.”

Due to the extent of his injuries, McFadden qualified for additional educational benefits. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Texas State University in exercise physiology and biomechanics, with a minor in psychology. A few years later he started his doctorate in psychology.

“Because of my injuries, it really prompted me to say, what are the better ways to train, or prevent athletes or soldiers from having these type of injuries,” McFadden said. “I wanted to get into the research side of things of strength and conditioning. That was what also started my pathway back into law enforcement; I just didn’t realize it at the time.”

During his grad studies, he worked as a research assistant for the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State, an organization that teaches research-based active shooter response training with the goal to stop killing and officer safety.

“I started off as a research assistance for ALERRT, then became an instructor traveling the country teaching active shooter response to the FBI, BIA, etc.,” McFadden said.

His career path eventually took him to Colorado, where he served as an NCAA Division 2 strength coach and adjunct professor before becoming the strength and conditioning coach at the Division 1 U.S Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

“Even though these amazing young men and women, they are NCAA Division 1 athletes, but they are there to become an officer first,” McFadden said.

Student-athletes are allowed to engage in athletics after classes from 2-6 p.m. every day.

“Every day is regimented and they will be in class; every minute of their day is accounted for,” he added. “During my time there, I coached baseball, la crosse, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s soccer, sprinters and hurdlers on the track team.”

During his five-year tenure, multiple teams won conference championships; some athletes were named All-Americans or even went on to the Olympics. But while he was seeing great success in a career he loved, he felt a tug to follow a new path.

“A higher calling stepped into my life to enter into the ministry,” McFadden said “In the Summer of 2019, I had some amazing ministry opportunities at the US. Air Force Academy, some very unique experiences there, that came out of extreme hardship. Through that extreme hardship, ministry opportunities presented themselves. I had a great career, great money, but knew there was something far more important at work.”

He took a mission trip that summer to Ethiopia for 3-4 weeks where he shared his faith and engaged with people in the streets.

“I was primarily there to help a missionary family, just going and being a help to them,” McFadden said. “I was looking for what that next phase of my life was going to be. I absolutely got all of that while I was there. The things that happened in Ethiopia were so pivotal in getting me to where I am now.”

While there, a rebel group staged a full coup d'état and the entire country went into lockdown for days.

“We couldn’t afford to step outside for a few days as white people. People were walking around with AK-47s. By the time I left, tensions were still pretty high. We had basically been cut off and we couldn’t communicate with our families back in the States,” McFadden said.

He was able to provide financial support to the missionary family, who couldn’t access their bank account due to the shutdown.

“When I came back, it’s when I knew that there was a change in direction to try and serve full time. I made a commitment to serve, whether that was in my local church or doing whatever. I just took a job. Went from being a Division I coach to being a delivery driver for an auto parts store,” McFadden said. “It was very humbling to the point of almost getting extremely discouraged. I didn’t doubt the decision, but I doubted the position and the hardship I was put in. I had been offered a more affluent job traveling the world. I needed to be more humbled.”

In 2020, the world changed. His parents still lived in Texas, but his dad died, possibly of Covid. He went home to help his mom.

“They were married for 45 years. She lost her husband, she was locked up in her house, couldn’t go anywhere or do anything,” McFadden said. “My sister lived in Hastings (Minn.) Started having the discussion that we could all move here. My sister and her family were very established here.”

McFadden found a place in River Falls and moved to Wisconsin in another leap of faith.

“It took a lot of prayers, a lot of consideration,” he said. “The connections were already here and I immediately had a support network. I got boots on the ground on a Tuesday, visited the church I am still in now on the next Wednesday night.”

McFadden now serves in the role of associate pastor at Berean Bible Baptist Church in Hastings. He soon started working for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as the state director. He helped expand the organization and enjoyed his time there but had the desire to do something more.

“As the state director, I was more on the logistical side rather than hands on,” he said. “I had a hand in hiring my replacement. Find, mentor and train your replacement. You should always be willing to replace yourself. But if you want to hold onto the control, what’s going to happen when you’re gone?”

Over the next two years, McFadden filled in as an interim pastor at over two dozen churches.

“During that two years of not having a day-to-day paying job, I was constantly on the go and using my voice in a way that God directed. While that two years got very financially difficult, I was encouraged that it was the right process.”

His path again took a turn, leading him back into law enforcement.

“When I saw how this country as a whole, how people had turned their back on law enforcement and did law enforcement have a hand in that? Absolutely. How did we lose respect for law enforcement? I just kind of got to a point where I thought I still have something to offer here,” McFadden said.

He knocked on Koranda’s door in 2023 and went through the interview process. State changes in hiring practices complicated things and it was another full year before McFadden decided to enter the police academy at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau at age 47. He reached out to Koranda and Chief Deputy Collin Gilles, who decided to take a calculated risk and hire him. After graduating, he began field training in Pierce County and has been on the road ever since.

McFadden has grown to love his new home, which is similar in many ways to where he grew up.

“I grew up in a farming and ranching community. Schools were small, the local cafes were full of coffee drinkers and ‘problem solvers; every morning, and most folks were always willing to help out their neighbors in times of need,” McFadden said. “I love the outdoors, hunting, fishing, hiking, etc., and Pierce County has plenty of places for all of that.

“As long as you are willing to engage, offer a helping hand, it’s easy to make friends, and meet friends of friends. Pierce County is a place where you can build a community and support network. You will come to know someone that knows someone that can help you get things done… around the house, on the farm, with your car, track or drag a deer out. I have built some amazing friendships with pastors, business owners, coaches, farmers and landowners. While people may have their differences, don’t share each other’s views or political opinions, when needed, they understand the value of hard work and lending a helping hand.”

Deciding to run

McFadden met his wife Bekki, who was a widow with two grown sons, through church in Tennessee. They have been married eight months. She has been a huge support in his campaign for sheriff.

“If there is one thing I want known, I would not be doing what I’m doing right now or where I am now without the Lord and my wife. I cannot function to the best of my ability without her,” McFadden said.

On April 15, McFadden started collecting signatures to run for sheriff. He needed to collect between 200-400 and declare a specific party to get on the ballot. By May 5, he and Bekki had collected almost 320 signatures.

“We primarily went door to door. My wife, Bekki, and I met with friends, who then introduced us to other friends. We were able to sit in living rooms, around dinner tables, out on front porches and back yards,” McFadden said. “Then it did not take long before some of those were asking if they could take nomination papers to their friends and families. There were local business owners, community leaders, and other members of the law enforcement community, that were all going door to door. This was truly a grass roots and community effort. There were no large gatherings of people… just primarily face to face interactions.”

One of the primary concerns that came up when he was door-knocking is the lack of manpower and resources at PCSO.

“What happens when a deputy makes a traffic stop, has a driver that is suspected of OWI, another deputy needs to get there for officer safety and oversight… and then there is one deputy left covering the county?” McFadden asked. “What happens when deputies must work for up to 14 days straight, 12-hour shifts, working nights, and then need to respond emergent across the county at night, in the middle of winter, or in the middle of the deer rut? Why are deputies working 14 days straight? Officer safety and well-being is essential to keeping the citizens of Pierce County safe.”

McFadden said his faith drives everything he does, including his decision to run for sheriff. He believes in the separate of church and state and promises to respect everyone’ personal beliefs.

“I hate social media. I will respect everybody’s personal beliefs; enjoy the fact that you can believe in whatever you want, separate from what your local government believes. I’ve been in those places, I’ve been in Iraq, Kurdistan, etc., where if you choose to be vocal in your faith, it could mean your life,” he said. “I understand the value and necessity being in public office of the separation of church and state. But I’m in full support of our government choosing to recognize that faith. It’s part of our history. For those who use it as an advantage when it suits them, it bothers me.”

McFadden believes a successful life is measured by the lasting impact you make on others, not what you’ve done and built up for yourself. He believes in empowering people and surrounding himself with people with unique backgrounds, proven experience, skill sets and outside perspectives.

“I have come to a wonderful knowledge base that while it may always be difficult, I take rest in not being so wrapped up in what the future holds. If I have to live in a shack in the middle of the mountains, as long as I have the ability to minister to other people, that is all that matters,” he said. “If I lose this election, it will have no bearing on my outlook of the future. At the same time, the best way for me to say this is, I don’t need this. I don’t have to be a cop, I don’t need to be the sheriff. There’s a need for change, but not because of some hidden agenda or desire to be the boss or be in charge.”