Sheriff Martin Pace swept to victory Tuesday night, putting an end to his first contested campaign in eight years.

Pace, 53, won all 22 precincts and 75 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Bubba Comans, a retired sheriff’s deputy. Comans, 56, finished with 25 percent.

“I’m relieved it’s over,” Pace said, who counted keeping up with crime trends while operating under tight budgets as major challenges in the next four years.

“Law enforcement has to stay up to speed on technology and the latest antics of the criminals,” he said. “In current financial times, we have to be innovative about how we handle manpower and resources to maximum efficiency.”

Pace won 10,903 votes — the most of any candidate who had opposition. The 14,547 votes cast in the sheriff’s race were second-most in Warren County, behind only the governor’s race. Despite the sweep, Pace’s winning margin Tuesday was his second-largest win in a contested race, having won 85 percent of the vote in 1999.

The race had turned expensive in recent months — Pace and Comans combined to raise more than $27,000 — and issues of crime fighting, what to do with the current jail and whether to build another seemed to hang heaviest over the race.

Comans was unavailable for comment this morning. He was expected to monitor the absentee count today at the courthouse, his wife, Stacy, said when reached this morning.

Pace has said the current 118-bed jail at Cherry and Grove streets no longer meets modern-day standards for housing inmates, but has come out strongest only for building one as close as possible to the courthouse and other government buildings. Comans favored adding onto the unused third floor, essentially a parapet roof, and opposed a new jail.

In March, county supervisors took up proposals on nine tracts of land after putting out public feelers for suitable sites. The proposals have sat idle.

A 2010 study by Colorado-based Voorhis/Robertson Justice Services said an ideal jail would house 350 to 650 beds on 20 to 50 acres. Earlier this year, the county estimated property taxes could jump 3 to 6 mills if a jail is built strictly to those standards.

Pace has been sheriff since he was appointed by the Board of Supervisors in January 1996 to serve nearly a year, then won a special election to serve out the three years remaining on Paul Barrett’s last term and since has now been elected to four four-year terms. His last opponent was Gary Lick, in 2003.