Chesterfield sheriff endorses Trump while in uniform

Chesterfield's elected Sheriff Karl Leonard endorsed former President Trump while in uniform earlier this month.

Why it matters: Legal experts told VPM that ethically, he shouldn't be allowed to. The law says he can.

Driving the news: Trump Force 47 Virginia, part of Trump's national effort to recruit voters, posted an Aug. 17 video on X of Leonard saying, "We've got to support this law-and-order candidate and President Trump."

• "He's going to make us safe again," he continued. "So please, go to Trump Force 47 and look up what you can do to help this campaign."
• Leonard is the only Virginia sheriff on the page so far.
• That same day, he appeared at an event at a Trump campaign office in Chester, per the Staunton News Leader .

The big picture: Typically, law enforcement officers can't campaign for another candidate in their uniforms because of the federal Hatch Act.

• The Act also restricts state and local government employees from taking part in partisan political activity.
• But sheriffs, which are mostly elected, are exempt because they hold a partisan office, the Office of Special Counsel wrote in a 2012 opinion .
• Endorsing "other partisan candidates is a natural and foreseeable incident of the elected official being permitted to run for partisan office," the opinion said.

Yes, but: Elected sheriffs can't ask any of their employees to make political contributions or support another candidate's campaign, according to OSC.

• And coming from law enforcement officials in uniform, it can "seem like there is an implied threat of force behind their endorsement," Randolph-Macon political professor Richard Meagher told VPM.

Between the lines: Sheriffs nationwide have repeatedly endorsed Republican and Democratic political candidates in the past in their official capacity.

• Leonard has campaigned for political candidates, like Gov. Youngkin , before. A Charlottesville sheriff has endorsed a Democratic Virginia senator .

What we're watching: Whether Chesterfield, a historically conservative county that went blue in the last presidential election , votes for Trump like it did in 2016 or goes Democrat once again.

Get more local stories in your inbox with Axios Richmond.