A Reality Star Sheriff Could Swing A Senate Race To The Far Right

For years, Mark Lamb has called himself “the American Sheriff.” But in 2020, Lamb let slip another nickname he’s picked up from his peers in law enforcement.

“Here in Arizona, a lot of these guys — endearingly, I hope — refer to me as Sheriff Hollywood,” Lamb said during an interview with Oliver North. As sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, since 2017, Lamb not only does the job, he plays the part.

Sporting a cowboy hat, tactical vest and a million-dollar grin that one local reporter in 2018 deemed “boyish,” Lamb has appeared on dozens of episodes of television, co-hosted “Live PD: Wanted,” opened the county’s jail to A&E cameras, traversed Arizona’s third-largest county with cameras in tow — staging proposals as traffic stops, buying bikes and suits for struggling young men — and even launched his own streaming network, American Sheriff, all while serving as the top law enforcement officer in the county.

But Lamb’s platinum teeth and Old West charm belie political views that put him squarely on the far right of American politics. And now, he is Arizona’s first major Republican contender for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kyrsten Sinema.

Sinema may not make it to the general election, but she is laboring to present herself as an independent, moderate voice. Lamb, not so much.

The Supreme Court is facing the most public scrutiny it has seen in decades, following revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas hid lavish gifts he received from a billionaire conservative donor ― revelations that in turn have snowballed into stories about other justices’ ethically dubious financial arrangements. In response, Democrats in Congress, led by Senate judiciary committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), have sent letters to Chief Justice John Roberts politely requesting that he appear before a committee (or send another justice in his stead), and asked for answers on a range of ethics-related questions. Roberts has largely rebuffed Congress with separation-of-powers claims, saying the court will continue to police itself. Late Monday afternoon, Roberts provided a brief reply to questions Durbin posed about the court’s lack of a binding ethics code after the chief justice refused to testify.

A woman who says Donald Trump silently molested her on an airliner in the late 1970s testified Tuesday in support of the writer who alleges that a flirtatious 1996 encounter with the future president ended in a violent sexual attack. Jessica Leeds, 81, of Asheville, North Carolina, said Trump accosted her with what seemed like “40 zillion hands.” She joined other witnesses who supported the testimony of E. Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist who publicly aired her claims against Trump in 2019, when she published a memoir. Trump has repeatedly denied the claims, saying Carroll lied to sell books and disparage him.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vowed to continue busing migrants to Democratic cities, including Chicago, despite ongoing criticism that his relocation program is inhumane and cruel. Abbott, in a letter to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) on Monday, lambasted the Biden administration for the influx of migrants along the U.S. border with Mexico while dismissing pleas that he stop sending migrants around the U.S. Texas has spent millions in taxpayer funds on the busing program, which has included dropping people off in the cold in Washington on Christmas Eve and outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ home.

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