SerpApi.Org
A Trump-endorsed former celebrity sheriff is projected to win the Republican primary in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District — despite a *** and abuse-of-power scandal that rocked the race in its final months.
Mark Lamb, the former sheriff of Pinal County who leaned into a reality television persona as “America’s sheriff,” defeated Daniel Keenan, the founder of a construction company who largely self-funded his campaign.
Politics: Hegseth Grilled Amid Iran War Escalation, Thousands Of Flight Cancelled: Live Updates
Arizona’s 5th is a heavily Republican-leaning district, meaning Lamb is the presumed front-runner for November’s general election. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who currently holds the office, is running to unseat Gov. Katie Hobbs (D).
The victory came despite a string of explosive reports in the Arizona Republic detailing Lamb’s yearslong history of exchanging ****** messages and engaging in real-life affairs with multiple women. He also allegedly intimidated two people who had come forward about the encounters, threatening that he’d target them with investigations under the state’s “revenge ****” law or that they would otherwise face “collateral damage.”
Lawyers for Lamb’s campaign told the Republic that the claims were “baseless and harmful” but didn’t address them specifically.
One woman, Jillian Stannard, said Lamb brought her then-husband into a group of people, including Lamb’s wife, who sent each other ****** photos and exchanged “occasional ****** favors,” as the Republic reported — and that he later threatened Stannard for reporting the situation to leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Politics: Trump Lashes Out At Female Reporter Asking ‘What’s The Plan?’ In Iran
Stannard’s ex-husband, Lamb’s former friend and coworker Matt Hilsabeck, later confirmed that the Republic’s reporting portrayed the situation “how I remember it.” The paper had detailed his yearslong affair with Janel Lamb, which Mark Lamb reportedly facilitated and then tried to cover up.
Another woman, Tammy Peacock, who died in 2021, publicly claimed that she and Lamb had had an affair and that Lamb had threatened her with a revenge **** investigation for posting about it publicly.
The county attorney’s office subsequently found that Lamb appeared to benefit from “a different standard of review” regarding ****** misconduct claims made against him, as well as his own requests to investigate the two women, which the county attorney’s office found had not been documented.
Allies and members of Turning Point, the late right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s organization, intervened to stop discussion of allegations against Lamb at a Republican district meeting this month, according to another report from the Republic. And another report by the paper found that Lamb used a racist joke in conversation with a border vigilante, who had used the N-word in a message to Lamb.
Politics: Meghan McCain Calls Political Foe 'Brilliant' — And A Huge '******* Problem' For The GOP
Late last year, Beth Goulden, the chair of the Arizona *** Offender Management Board, alleged in workplace ****** discrimination allegations against the Pinal County Attorney and his chief of staff that, among other things, Miller had told her that Lamb and his wife were “swingers” and that “Mark sends **** pics to women,” the Phoenix New Times reported.
“I don’t know how my name ended up in it,” Lamb said of Goulden’s “notice of claim,” a precursor to a lawsuit. The county attorney, Brad Miller, denied the claims.
Lamb served as sheriff of Pinal County from 2017 through 2024, when heran an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate, ultimately losing the Republican primary to Kari Lake, who in turn lost the general election to Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.).
Lamb has run for the Arizona congressional seat from a $3 million ranch in Tennessee, where his family now lives.
Politics: Senator Says Trump Is Working Toward This 1 Thing For Midterms – And It's Terrifying
Throughout a decade in politics, Lamb has pitched himself as a supporter of “God, family, and freedom.” He’s Republican in the Trumpian mold — unafraid to push election conspiracy theories, and an immigration enforcement hard-liner. He said in 2021 that immigration and drug and human trafficking “virtually go hand-in-hand 100% of the time,” and that some immigrants have “nothing to give.” His connections to the “Constitutional Sheriff” movement — a right-wing movement that holds that county sheriffs are the supreme arbiters of what is constitutional in their jurisdictions – have been noted by extremism researchers.
For years, Lamb has worked to shape his own identity in the media. Others in law enforcement have dubbed him “Sheriff Hollywood”: Lamb has appeared on dozens of episodes of “Live PD,” opened Pinal County’s jail to A&E cameras, and even launched his own streaming service, “American Sheriff.”
