Former Arizona sheriff running to replace Andy Biggs in U.S. House

Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has entered the race for the House seat being vacated by Freedom Caucus heavyweight Rep. Andy Biggs.

Mr. Lamb, who lost to Kari Lake in the GOP primary for the state’s U.S. Senate race last year, promised to bring core conservative values to Capitol Hill.

“I’m running for the US Congress because we need proven Conservatives in Washington, D.C., who unapologetically believe in God, Family, and Freedom,” he wrote on social media.

Mr. Biggs, a charter member of the House Freedom Caucus, is leaving Congress at the end of his term to challenge Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, in the state’s 2026 gubernatorial race.

Mr. Lamb announced his candidacy this week on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” broadcast on Real America’s Voice. The show has continued since the conservative activist’s Sept. 10 assassination.

TPUSA Chief Operating Officer Tyler Bowyer, who co-hosted the show with conservative pundit Jack Posobiec, called the district “the epicenter of the Freedom Caucus.”

Indeed, Mr. Biggs took over the group of hard-line conservatives when Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, left the House to become President Trump’s chief of staff in 2019. Mr. Biggs continued to lead it through the end of 2021.

Mr. Lamb praised Mr. Biggs as a “stalwart” of the caucus and said he planned to carry on the tradition in the 5th Congressional District, located about 20 miles southwest of Phoenix.

He said he discussed his campaign with Freedom Caucus members.

“I met with them, told them I was thinking about this, and I truly want to be the champion for Arizona and freedom like Andy has been,” Mr. Lamb said.

The winner of the Republican primary will likely capture the House seat in the reliably red district that includes Gilbert and Apache Junction.

Mr. Lamb spent eight years as sheriff of Pinal County, a region between Phoenix and Tucson. Though it’s dozens of miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, it covers key smuggling routes used to get illegal immigrants north to where they spread out across the country.

Mr. Lamb empowered his deputies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, regularly reporting suspicious highway encounters to the Border Patrol. That work has won him praise from conservatives.

Pinal County, with 500,000 residents, is considered a Republican stronghold in a state that has become highly competitive in national elections.