Political demographics in Arizona are shifting in the Democrats’ favor. But Joe Arpaio insists his comeback bid for Maricopa County sheriff will succeed if he stays true to his tough-on-crime brand and unconditional support for President Trump.
In nearly a quarter-century as the top cop in what’s now the nation’s fourth most populous county, Arpaio earned cheers and derision nationally, particularly over his targeting of illegal immigrants. Critics accused Arpaio, 87, of inhumane treatment of inmates and racial profiling. In 2017, a federal judge found him guilty of contempt of court, but Trump pardoned him before sentencing.
By that time, Arpaio was out of office. Having first won the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in 1992, in 2016 he lost to Democratic challenger Paul Penzone, a former Phoenix Police Department sergeant, by 13%. That was at the same time Trump won Arizona’s 11 electoral votes and a majority in Maricopa County, albeit narrowly, with 49.5% of the vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s 45.4%.
It’s that kind of electoral result that makes Arpaio’s reelection appear an uphill battle. Just four years earlier, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won Maricopa County 54-44% over President Barack Obama, and GOP nominees succeeded by even larger margins in prior White House races. Democrats are now taking a hard look at competing seriously in Arizona next year, buoyed by Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s win in 2018, the party’s first Senate victory in the state since 1988.
Arpaio told the Washington Examiner he’s confident of strong support among Republican primary voters in a growing field and that he can win over independents and some Democrats in the general.
“Why would I be reelected six times? Plus, when I lost the general election, I still was very high in the Republican primary. I never lost a sheriff’s race in the primary,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Acknowledging his reputation as a “publicity hound,” Arpaio said his platform would build on what “the people wanted me to do the last 24 years.”
“So the bottom line is I’ve got a lot of support out there regardless of what you hear in polls, and everything else, and I’m in this to win,” he said.
Still, Arpaio’s last electoral outing didn’t go so well. In 2018, he ran for Senate and lost the Republican primary to then-Rep. Martha McSally. During the race, he stuck by his doubts about the authenticity of the birth certificate produced by President Barack Obama.
To win another term as sheriff, Arpaio said, he’ll have to overcome being “a little weak in the Hispanic community.” In Maricopa County, while majority white, almost one-third of residents boast Latino heritage, and about 15% were born abroad.
“To this day, they always say thousands and thousands of people have been arrested and deported. Yeah, they were violating the law. I had the authority to do it. And I still have the authority to go into employer businesses and arrest the employers and the workers because 99% of them have fake IDs and just happen to be illegal immigrants,” he said.
Arpaio’s campaign not only embraces his record — it backs Trump full stop.
“I’m not a flip-flopper like a lot of political people are. I support him from the heart, not the politics,” he said. “I may lose votes, it may help me get votes, that’s the way it is.”
The U.S. Army veteran, who lived and worked in Mexico and Turkey during his three-decades-long tenure with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration before becoming sheriff, said former Trump allies were “disgusting” for turning on the president “to make money.” His attack was aimed at one-term former Republican Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, who’s challenging Trump for the 2020 GOP presidential nomination, and short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who called for a Republican primary challenger against Trump.
Despite his presidential pardon, Arpaio will be back in court next month as he appeals to have his conviction set aside.
If Arpaio wins the primary and general elections in 2020, he’ll be 88 when he’s sworn in.
