Ex-Arizona sheriff, Trump ally Joe Arpaio running for Senate
PHOENIX — Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was spared a possible jail sentence last year when his political ally President Donald Trump pardoned his criminal conviction for disobeying a judge’s order, announced Tuesday he plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Jeff Flake.
The 85-year-old lawman tweeted he is seeking the post to support Trump’s policies.
“President Trump needs my help in the Senate,” Arpaio added in an email to supporters seeking funds for the race.
Arpaio, who served 24 years as metro Phoenix’s sheriff before suffering a crushing 2016 defeat by a little-known Phoenix police sergeant, would face former state Sen. Kelli Ward in the GOP primary and possibly U.S. Rep. Martha McSally. She has told colleagues that she is planning a Senate run but hasn’t yet made an announcement.
The retired sheriff did not immediately return a phone message left Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Arpaio ‘s re-election defeat came amid a crush of criticism over the $141 million in legal costs that Maricopa County taxpayers footed for defending him in lawsuits over his contentious immigration policies, deaths of inmates in his jails and a child sex abuse case that was botched by his department’s investigators.
He became internationally known for jailing inmates in outdoor tents during tripledigit heat, forcing them to wear pink underwear, conducting dozens of immigration crackdowns over a nine-year period, retaliating against his political enemies and failing to adequately investigate more than 400 sex-crimes complaints that were made to his office.
Arpaio was found last year guilty of criminal contempt of court for intentionally disobeying a federal judge’s 2011 order to stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.