Two former Seward County sheriff's deputies who sued their former boss, saying they lost their jobs after not backing the sheriff in his re-election bid, have lost their lawsuit.

Troy Schaefer and Randall Muhm had claimed in a lawsuit filed last year in Lincoln's U.S. District Court that sheriff Joe Yocum didn't reappoint them to their positions in early 2011 because they had supported challenging candidate Pat Dorcey.

Dorcey lost the November 2010 election to Yocum.

The deputies' lawsuit said Yocum had warned them not to support his opponent in the election, although their termination letters gave other reasons for the job loss.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard said in his ruling Monday that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the sheriff violated the deputies' free speech rights.