A cowboy hat-wearing Republican sheriff in Arizona is running for Senate to compete for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s seat.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, a hard-on-immigration pro-Trumper who lost his son and granddaughter in a car crash a few months ago, filed paperwork Monday to enter the race. By doing so, Lamb has become the first major GOP candidate to launch his campaign officially.
Sinema changed her party affiliation from Democrat to an independent late last year, sparking further speculation that voters might oust her when she’s up for reelection in 2024 after becoming a spoiler to some leftist legislative proposals in the razor-thin split upper chamber.
Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego is already running for the Democratic nomination now that Sinema is out of that primary race. He has taken the position of attacking Sinema’s record as a moderate.
Arizona’s Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb filed paperwork to run for Senate in Arizona in 2024
He would be competing for independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (left) seat as her term comes to an end. She switched her party affiliation from Democrat last year, which has opened the way for a new Democrat to run. Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego (right) filled that void and entered the primary race for the Senate seat
Failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has also been mulling a primary bid for Sinema’s Arizona seat, which could turn into a bitter battle between the two MAGA-type candidates.
Arizona, a southern border state, is second to Texas in bearing the brunt of the migration crisis – and many Republicans are pushing for more harsh laws to quell the surging flow from Mexico.
Lamb’s first priority as a senator on his now-live campaign website is to ‘secure the border.’
‘I have fought on the frontlines against the unmitigated disaster on the Southern Border created by Joe Biden and the Democrats,’ a statement on the priority reads. ‘Americans, especially citizens in border states like Arizona, have been betrayed by weak leadership in Washington.’
‘Allowing unrestricted illegal immigration is unfair to legal immigrants who played by the rules and waited in line,’ he continued. ‘America needs a return to sanity with a merit-based immigration system that upholds the rule of law.
‘It is a false choice that we cannot simultaneously be a nation of laws and a generous, welcoming nation.’
For weeks, Lamb has hinted at a run – and his website claims: ‘Washington needs a new Sheriff in town.’
Whoever wins the Republican primary will likely end up in a three-way race between Sinema and Gallego.
Sinema, however, has not yet said whether she is running for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2024 to continue serving alongside Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.
In recent years, Lamb has developed a more high-profile persona within the conservative world – frequently appearing on Fox News to defend former President Trump and denounce President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Lamb came under fire from liberals during the coronavirus pandemic for refusing to enforce or observe COVID-related shutdown orders.
The sheriff backed Lake and failed senate candidate Blake Masters, a venture capitalist, in their respective campaigns.
Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is also mulling a run for the Senate in 2024
Lamb has a hard-line immigration approach and has taken to Fox News to go to bat for former President Donald Trump in recent years. The two are pictured together on April 5, 2019 during the then-president’s visit with law enforcement at the southern border in Calexico, California
Both Lake and Masters, who ran far-right campaigns, have not ruled out running for Sinema’s seat.
‘If I was a betting man, which I’m not, I’d bet the farm that Kari Lake ends up running for Senate,’ her senior adviser Colton Duncan said in a statement.
He added: ‘I’m 99 percent sure she’ll run, and if she does, I’m 100 percent certain she will win. However, Kari is entirely dedicated to her legal battle.’
In a December 2022 collision, Lamb’s son Cooper and his 1-year-old daughter died at the scene. Cooper’s fiancé was severely injured and in critical condition – she died about a week after the crash.
Brian Torres, 21, was driving the truck that collided with Lamb’s son and granddaughter. He was initially arrested for DUI and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office submitted charges of three counts of manslaughter against him in February, a Class 2 felony.
Analysis of Torres’ blood shows he was below the legal limit of alcohol in his system to be able to drive, but he also had THC, the substance found in marijuana, in his system at the time of the crash. He was also speeding by at least 20 miles per hour, according to Gilbert Police officials.
