Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff who targeted the Latino community, recently announced his plans of running for Senate in Arizona. The 85-year-old served for 24 years as a sheriff in Phoenix – from 1993 to 2016 – until he lost to Paul Penzone.
On his journey to state Senate, he would face Kelli Ward, and possibly Martha McSally, who was planning to run for Senate but has yet to make the announcement. His defeat in 2016 came in the middle of a controversy over the $141 million in legal costs for lawsuits due to controversial immigration policies, deaths of inmates in his jails and a child sex abuse.
The infamous politician is known for incarcerating prisoners in outdoor tents during high heat seasons, forcing them to wear pink underwear, conducting dozens of immigration crackdowns over a nine-year period, and failing to investigate more than 400 sex-crimes complaints. In 2017, Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt of court for intentionally disobeying a federal judge’s 2011 order to stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.
Arpaio got pardoned by President Donald Trump in August. “I have a lot to offer. I’m a big supporter of President Trump,” Arpaio told the Washington Examiner.
“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,” he wrote o Twitter.
The fact that Trump defeated Clinton by 4% in Arizona back in 2016 indicates that he has a chance of winning. He receives praise from many conservatives for his immigration policies.
He said he has a “soft spot” for the Mexican community because his parents emigrated from Italy, but he told the Washington Examiner that, “If you’re going to come across that border, you should be arrested and get the consequences of it.”
This article was inspired by HuffPost // Joe Arpaio Is Running For Senate In Arizona