Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he’s still considering a Senate campaign in Arizona following the decision by incumbent Republican Sen. Jeff Flake not to seek re-election.
Arpaio, who in August became the first person pardoned by President Trump after he was convicted of misdemeanor contempt, previously said he was considering a primary challenge against Flake.
“It’s still out there, I haven’t made a decision,” he told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, shortly after Flake’s announcement.
The former sheriff said he met twice recently with Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who has sought to recruit anti-establishment Senate candidates.
“I did tell him that my heart is for Donald Trump and always will be,” Arpaio recalls telling Bannon. “My heart is with the president and anything he needs or wants I will do. So we’ll have to see what his position is. It’s an open seat now.”
Bannon did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
The former sheriff, 85 years old, said he and Bannon met privately for an hour in Phoenix and spoke again during a Republican Party convention this month in California. He said they did not specifically discuss the Senate race.
After publication of this article, a source close to Bannon indicated he supports former state Sen. Kelli Ward, Flake’s long-declared anti-establishment challenger.
“Ward is the candidate,” the source close to Bannon said. Arpaio was elected repeatedly as the chief law enforcement official in Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix, before losing last year as he faced prosecution for allegedly defying a federal judge’s order on immigration enforcement.
The ex-sheriff said he’s more likely than any other Republican to win the Senate seat, and that “I’m very strong statewide.”
“They don’t vote for me because I’m tall, dark and handsome,” he said. “They vote for me because they like me, that’s why everyone wants my endorsement.”
Arpaio said Ward is “a nice lady” who “supports some of the things I believe in, like with the illegal immigration problem,” but that he’s unsure if he will back her.
Ward has been branded a conspiracy theorist by opponents.
Arpaio said he has no timeframe for deciding on a Senate run, but that “you do know I’m pretty good at raising money… who raises $12 million as a sheriff? Think about that. But the problem is I don’t know if I’m going to run.”
Some observers have expressed doubt that Arpaio — who floated his interest in future political office after the pardon — would actually run again.
“Arpaio is trying to make himself relevant,” Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts wrote in August, recalling that he previously has toyed with seeking higher office, reliably scoring press coverage by doing so.
A villain to immigration rights activists and civil libertarians, Arpaio has denied that his age means anything for his political future. “They just say Sheriff Joe Arpaio comma 85 years old. Why do they always say that?” he complained earlier this year.
“My main objective will to be to make sure [Arizona Democratic Rep. Kyrsten] Sinema will be defeated, she took some shots at me with the pardon,” Arpaio said on Tuesday. “Of course Flake, McCain and the speaker of the house also did. And I don’t forget those shots going after me or going after the president.”
