ORLANDO, Fla. -- There are two Democrats running for the position of Orange County Sheriff in the Aug. 26 primary.

Democratic candidate Jerry Demings is running against Democrat Malone Stewart for retiring Sheriff Kevin Beary’s position.

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Stewart served most of his 34 years of law enforcement experience at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, nine of which he served as under-sheriff, the top position under the sheriff.

Demings served as Orlando’s police chief and the public safety director of Orange County in his 27 years in law enforcement.

Stewart retired last year to focus more time on his campaign and said he already has the experience for the position after having commanded 1,400 deputies.

Stewart said his plan to improve public safety includes targeting repeat offenders.

"We can’t wait for the violent crime to occur and then respond. People are afraid to go out at night to the drugstore and to buy groceries, and I am the candidate who is a crime fighter who will use modern methodologies of being proactive," Stewart said.

Demings visited with people this week during National Night Out and spoke about the changes he wants to implement to protect them from violent crime.

"Violent crime is up in this community and it has sensitized all of us to make sure that we have a good sheriff and a good law enforcement agency to respond to those issues," Demings said. "I certainly am sensitive to that whole issue and I want to deal with the real crime and the perception of crime in this area. And so everything that we do will be to assure the public that this is a safe community to live, work and play."

Stewart said he also wants to cut management and put more supervisors back into patrol cars. He said he wants to place surveillance cameras in high crime neighborhoods to deter and identify crimes as they happen.

Demings also said he wants to explore the possibility of surveillance cameras, but also plans to fill 100 vacant deputy positions and develop education programs to prevent juvenile crime.

The winner between Demings and Stewart will face the Republican candidate, which could be either Edgewater Police Chief John Tegg or Brevard County Sheriff’s Office pilot Bill Armstrong.