Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb filed paperwork to run for Arizona Senate, becoming one of the first major Republicans to do so.
An ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, Lamb appears headed on a collision course with firebrand Kari Lake, who has teased a run for the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). The contest is poised to become a three-way battle.
SINEMA SET TO MUDDY WATERS IN ARIZONA SENATE RACE AS GOP CANDIDATE PREPARES TO ENTER FRAY
Lamb has made clamping down on drug smuggling and illegal immigration a core tenet of his politics. Pinal County, which is not on the southern border, is home to numerous smuggling routes.
Similar to Lake, Lamb has trafficked in claims that electoral malfeasance deprived Trump of victory in 2020. More recently, he pledged to examine fraud in the 2022 midterm elections despite admitting that he found "zero evidence" of fraud that would have altered the 2020 election.
Republicans have set their sights on flipping Sinema's seat in 2024, hoping to chip away at the Democrats' 51-49 hold on the upper chamber.
Once considered a red state, Arizona has become more competitive over recent years. Republicans have lost control over both Senate seats, the governor's office, and the 2020 presidential election in the state over the past five years. They barely control the state legislature.
Sinema emerged as a maverick in the upper chamber, tanking multiple iterations of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda before agreeing to a compromise $740 billion bill dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act.
Last year, she registered as an independent. She has already filed a candidacy with the Federal Election Commission but has not yet announced her campaign. Reports indicate that she is gearing up for a campaign debut.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) launched his campaign for the seat in January, raising Republican hopes that he and Sinema could split the votes to their benefit.
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Two other Republicans, Jim Lamon and Karrin Taylor Robson, are reportedly contemplating a run.
Democrats find themselves forced to defend 23 seats in the 2024 midterm elections, including three held by Democratic-aligned independent senators. Republicans only have to defend 11.