Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of metro Phoenix who was ousted by voters frustrated with his prominence tactics and legal troubles, is trying to get back into politics, now running for mayor of the wealthy suburb where he has lived longest. of two decades.
The stakes for Arpaio, 90, in Tuesday’s election are far less than when he served as top law enforcement officer for 4 million people as Maricopa County sheriff for six terms.
The former sheriff is now trying to replace Ginny Dickey, the two-term Democratic mayor of Fountain Hills, a majority Republican community of regarding 24,000 residents on the edge of Phoenix.
“My secret weapon has always been reaching out to people,” Arpaio said. “You need that to get elected in a small town.”
Dickey said that when she learned Arpaio was running for election, she wasn’t sure how that run would affect the race. In the end, she concluded that he didn’t change much, except for the fact that he has a head start on fundraising. She, however, did not change her campaign.
“I think I will campaign like I always have,” he said.
Nearly six years following losing the sheriff’s job, Arpaio has admitted that it is harder for him to promote his political message, but he rejects criticism that he should step back from public life.
“I’m still in good health and I’m going to keep fighting for what people need,” Arpaio said. “It might be corny, but what else should be done?”
After spending 24 years as sheriff, Arpaio was crushed by a Democratic rival in 2016. The following year he was found guilty of criminal contempt of court for disobeying a judge’s orders to suspend traffic patrols that targeted immigrants, although he was later pardoned by then President Donald Trump.
Arpaio finished third in the Republican primary for a Senate seat in 2018 and second in the party’s 2020 primary to try to win back the sheriff’s job. Both times, he lost the vote in Fountain Hills.
Like Arpaio, Dickey is a long-time member of the community. He was a member of the Fountain Hills School Board and City Council.
Before the federal government and the courts stripped him of his immigration powers, Arpaio led 20 major traffic patrols that targeted migrants and more than 80 business raids to capture people working in the United States without permission. .
