Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has officially submitted his signatures to qualify for the Arizona Republican primary ballot for a highly contested United States Senate seat.
“I’m excited to represent not just Republicans, but also Democrats and Independents. I have a proven track record of beating Democrats as a sheriff,” Lamb declared confidently outside the Executive Tower in Phoenix on Monday afternoon. He proudly shared that he gathered over 13,000 signatures, surpassing the minimum requirement of 7,072 signatures needed to secure a spot on the ballot.”
Lamb is competing in the same primary as Kari Lake, a former gubernatorial candidate in 2022 who is highly favored to secure the Senate race nomination. According to a recent poll conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, which surveyed 384 registered Republicans from Feb. 6-13, Lake holds a significant lead with 54%, while Lamb trails behind at 21%.
During her run for governor, Lake received support from Lamb, who often stood by her side at press conferences and other public events.
Throughout his campaign, the candidate has placed a significant emphasis on addressing the border crisis. Although Pinal County itself may not be located directly along the southern border, it often grapples with the repercussions of border-related crime, including pursuits.
On the Democratic side, the only major candidate in the race is Congressman Ruben Gallego. Lake managed to gather around 10,120 signatures through E-QUAL, while Gallego gathered approximately 14,186 signatures.
On March 5, Senator Kyrsten Sinema made the decision not to run for re-election. This announcement avoided the potential scenario of a unique three-way race, where an independent candidate would have been the incumbent.
In a video, Sinema, who departed from the Democratic Party in December 2022, announced her decision to leave the Senate at the end of this year. “I am choosing civility, understanding, and collaboration to accomplish our goals,” she stated, as reported by The Center Square.