Former Nye County Sheriff Wade A. Lieseke Jr. won't be able to rely on endorsements from Aug. 15 primary candidates Mel Jackson and Ted Holmes after all.

In the immediate wake of the voting, Lieseke said he had verbal commitments from both candidates, which he hoped to follow up with formal endorsements. But both candidates stressed they entered the race to be an alternative to the former Sheriff Lieseke as well as incumbent Sheriff Tony DeMeo.

Jackson, who finished fourth in the race with 13.3 percent of the vote, confirmed Lieseke spoke to him about an endorsement.

"I'd rather not endorse either, and that's what I told him. In good conscience I couldn't do it," Jackson said. "I'm not backing Lieseke and I'm not backing DeMeo, and I told both of them that. I'm just neutral."

Lieseke said that wasn't what he was told.

"On election day at the community center, he told me in front of several people he would endorse me," Lieseke said.

Likewise, Ted Holmes, who finished third in the primary with 16.15 percent of the vote, denied he was endorsing Lieseke.

"I don't endorse anybody," Holmes said. "I just wanted to offer a change."

Holmes said he plans to run for sheriff again in 2010.

"I'm going to be around in 2010 and I'm going to be a little more serious," he said.

Again, Lieseke offered a different version of events.

"Ted called me Wednesday morning ... where he promised the same thing (an endorsement). However, I understand hardball politics in Nye County, having won three elections, and everyone has the right to change their opinion," Lieseke said.