Sheriff who blamed Jan. 6 on 'the Hillary Clintons that have gone unpunished' joins AZ Senate race

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who has been an ardent ally of far-right causes, on Tuesday became the first major Arizona Republican to announce a campaign for the Senate seat held by Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego quickly greeted his rival’s entry by releasing a statement from former Capitol Hill Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell that excoriated the sheriff for his “continued perpetuation of the ‘Big Lie’ that led to the attack on me and my fellow officers and his attempts to excuse the violent actions taken by the January 6th rioters.”

Lamb was elected in 2016 as the top lawman for Pinal County, a reliably Republican bastion between Phoenix and Tucson, in an election that coincidently took place as prominent xenophobe Joe Arpaio was losing re-election as sheriff in neighboring Maricopa County. While Lamb said during his first campaign that he’d keep his focus at home and even asked rhetorically, “If Fox calls, what are they going to do for me,” he soon took Arpaio’s place on national TV as an anti-immigration hawk.