Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Tuesday that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona being vacated by the retiring Jeff Flake.
The controversial lawman whom Donald Trump pardoned last year following a federal conviction for criminal contempt in a racial profiling case.
Dubbed ‘America’s toughest sheriff,’ he was best known for running a ‘tent city’ jail in Arizona’s populous Maricopa County, and for targeting suspected illegal immigrants for arrest.
Arpaio tweeted Tuesday: ‘I am running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Arizona, for one unwavering reason: to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again.’
Joe Arpaio said Tuesday that he will run for the U.S. Senate ‘to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again’
Arpaio (pictured last summer) is running for a soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat in his native Arizona after Jeff Flake retires
The 85-year-old former sheriff campaigned openly with Trump in Arizona and Iowa during the 2016 primary and general election seasons, and spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio
Arpaio, who campaigned for Trump in 2016, was convicted by a judge who ruled he had willfully violated a 2011 injunction barring his officers from stopping and detaining Latino motorists solely on suspicion that they were in the country illegally.
The former sheriff was facing up to six months in prison after he admitted to inadvertently disobeying the court order.
But he said the prosecution was a politically motivated attempt by the Obama administration to undermine his re-election bid.
Arpaio said in December that he was ‘seriously, seriously, seriously considering running.’
Arpaio, dubbed ‘America’s toughest sheriff,’ was known for running outdoor ‘tent city’ jails that subjected inmates to intense heat and active work schedules
The 85-year-old said he would not enter the race for a House seat made available when Rep. Trent Franks resigns in January for asking staffers to be surrogate mothers for his child.
While buying meat at a Deli counter in December, he told a Daily Beast reporter : ‘No, I would not consider Franks’ seat, but I am considering running for the Senate, Flake’s seat. I feel like I just gave you a little scoop there.’
He faces stiff competition for the seat in the form of Kelli Ward, a former state senator who already has significant financial backing for a re-run.
Trump pardoned controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio (above) who was convicted of federal contempt of court last year
Trump said in the statement pardoning Arpaio: ‘Arpaio’s life and career, which began at the age of 18 when he enlisted in the military after the outbreak of the Korean War, exemplify selfless public service
‘Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration.’
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eighty-five years old, and after more than fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon.’
Arpaio, who lost a bid for re-election in Arizona’s Maricopa County in November after 24 years in office, was known for his crackdown on undocumented immigrants and investigating unfounded Trump-supported claims questioning former President Barack Obama’s citizenship.
Before Trump granted the pardon, the American Civil Liberties Union, which sought the court injunction against Arpaio, said it would be ‘a presidential endorsement of racism.’