Despite Jeff Strickland’s support from Steve Cronic, it will be Gerald Couch who succeeds Cronic as Hall County sheriff on Jan. 1. Couch handily won a Republican primary runoff election Tuesday, grabbing 55.6 percent of the county’s vote to beat Strickland, who had slightly more support than Couch in the primary. The race to be Hall County’s next sheriff never drew a Democrat or a third-party candidate.