Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio announces bid for Senate
PHOENIX — Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who was spared a possible jail sentence when President Donald Trump pardoned him for disobeying a judge, announced Tuesday that he would run for the Senate seat being vacated by fellow Republican Jeff Flake.
The 85-year-old longtime lawman said the lack of support for Trump’s agenda in Washington inspired him to make the bid. He also cited supporters who urged him to seek public office again after a crushing 2016 re-election defeat following six terms as sheriff of metro Phoenix. Then Trump offered the pardon last summer.
“If I go to my grave, I don’t think I’d be happy if I didn’t take the shot to run,” Arpaio said, adding that Trump had not asked him to run.
Arpaio’s plan could set up a race in which one of the president’s most prominent supporters attempts to take over for one of his fiercest critics.