Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona, a strong advocate for border security, is running for U.S. Senate in 2024.
If Lamb wins the Republican nomination, he will face off against incumbent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who left the party to become an independent last year.
“Arizona needs a proven conservative fighter that’s going to stand up for the people of Arizona, and honestly, that’s going to fight for the values that we espouse, which is God, family, [and] freedom,” he told The Daily Signal.
The sheriff filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday and announced his campaign in a 2-minute video on Tuesday, telling voters, “Washington needs a new sheriff in town.”
“We need leaders in this country that aren’t too politically correct to protect us,” Lamb said in video, “and that’s why I’m running for the United States Senate.”
If elected, “the first priority is representing the people of Arizona, focus[ing] on what America was built on, which is the Constitution,” he said. “I think if you look at the pressing matter, the kitchen table items for not just Arizonans, but Americans, I mean, obviously, [are] the border crisis [and] fentanyl.”
Lamb is no stranger to the fentanyl crisis in America. As the sheriff of Pinal County, located between Phoenix and Tucson, Lamb regularly deals with drug smugglers and cartel members crossing the border from Mexico and bringing drugs onto his community. He also says the drug crisis in America has affected his own family.
“[O]ur son Cooper struggled with drug addiction. He even spent time in my jail for an issue stemming from fentanyl abuse,” Lamb said, after sharing in the campaign video that his son and one-year-old granddaughter died in a car crash.
“I know what deadly drugs and the criminals peddling them are doing to families and communities. I know what it did to my family,” the county lawman said.
Lamb is a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s border policies and testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on Feb. 28, raising concerns over a dramatic spike in the amount of fentanyl flooding into his community.
The federal Customs and Border Protection agency has seized 106,000 pounds of drugs, including 11,000 pounds of fentanyl, at the southern border just since the start of fiscal 2023 on Oct. 1.
Asked how he would respond to criticism over his qualifications to be a senator, Lamb said, “I have run an agency with over 600 employees, a $55 million budget,” referring to his sheriff’s department. “[Pinal County is] the size of the state of Connecticut. I will tell you, it’s bigger than any senator’s office or budget, and I’ve been doing legislation.”
“I’ve worked with Republicans and Democrats … . I think that I bring the most experience when you talk about not just the border, but when you talk about having to work with people, not just in your own county, but on a state level. I think I’ve become uniquely qualified for that,” he said.
Sinema defeated her Republican rival, Martha McSally, in 2018 garnering 50.0% of the vote, with McSally taking 47.6%. Though Sinema has yet to formally announce her bid for reelection, she is raising money for a campaign.
“I’m running my race right now,” Lamb told The Daily Signal, adding, “I’m focused on what I have to do.”
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., announced in January his plans to run as a Democrat for the Senate seat.
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