Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is headed to Washington, handing Republicans a hard-fought win in Arizona on a night when the party took heavy losses across much of the country.
Lamb, who was endorsed by President Trump, is projected to win Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ. With roughly 93 percent of the vote counted Friday morning, Lamb held about 51 percent of the vote to Democrat Elizabeth Lee’s 48 percent.
The win keeps a reliably conservative seat in GOP hands. Lamb will succeed Rep. Andy Biggs, the conservative firebrand who gave up the seat to challenge Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in Arizona’s high-stakes governor’s race.
The district, which takes in the Phoenix suburbs of Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert, went for Trump by about 20 points in 2024. This year, however, the race tightened considerably, reflecting a national environment that has been unkind to Republicans. NBC News found the contest had swung roughly 17 points toward Democrats compared with the 2024 presidential race.
Lamb, a Chandler High School graduate, served as sheriff of Pinal County from 2017 until stepping down at the end of 2024. During his tenure he became a national voice on border security, testifying before a House committee about rising fentanyl seizures and increased cartel human-trafficking activity under the Biden administration. Trump once quipped at an Arizona rally that the goateed, cowboy-hat-wearing lawman looked like he came straight from central casting.
Lamb also founded the American Sheriff Foundation, a charity, in 2018, and wrote the 2020 book “American Sheriff: Traditional Values in a Modern World.” On the campaign trail, he pitched himself as a constitutional conservative rather than a career politician, pointing to his record confronting cartels and fighting human trafficking.
His path to Congress included a setback. Lamb ran for the U.S. Senate in 2024 but lost the Republican primary to Kari Lake. He rebounded this year, defeating businessman Daniel Keenan in the July primary for the House seat.
Lamb held a sizable fundraising edge in the general election, raising roughly $1.8 million compared with about $376,000 for Lee, according to federal campaign finance data.
The race was not without controversy. The Arizona Republic reported in May that Lamb sent explicit messages to several women and allegedly threatened retaliation if they disclosed the communications.
Lamb’s victory comes as Republicans fight to hold on to their House majority amid a challenging political climate, with Democrats hoping to capitalize on voter dissatisfaction with President Trump’s second-term agenda. For a party searching for bright spots after Tuesday’s results, holding Biggs’ seat in the Arizona suburbs is a welcome one.
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