Source: Politics<\/p>\n
A scandal-plagued House candidate powered by President Donald Trump\u2019s endorsement won a messy primary Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Mark Lamb, the former Pinal County sheriff, overcame a late push from self-funding candidate Daniel Keenan in Arizona\u2019s 5th District. Lamb will enter November as the heavy frontrunner in the deep-red Phoenix-area district to replace Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who is running for governor.<\/p>\n
Keenan had poured nearly $2 million of his own cash into the campaign and attempted to make Lamb\u2019s alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power<\/a> central to the race. Lamb has denied the allegations.<\/p>\n But Lamb \u2014 bolstered by Trump and Arizona-based Turning Point USA \u2014 managed to ward off the attacks.<\/p>\n The race\u2019s outcome reveals the strength of Trump\u2019s endorsement, and it\u2019s the latest example of how willing GOP primary voters have been to accept scandal-ridden candidates favored by the president.<\/p>\n Lamb, who served as sheriff until 2024, earned national notoriety<\/a> as a gun-toting critic of the Biden administration\u2019s immigration and border policy. He secured Trump\u2019s backing for the 5th District contest last year.<\/p>\n Then in May, the Arizona Republic launched a multi-part investigation<\/a> alleging that Lamb engaged in a yearslong pattern of sending sexual images and instigating intimate encounters<\/a> between him, his wife and others. One woman involved, Jillian Stannard, accused Lamb of encouraging her husband<\/a> to have sex with other women, including Lamb\u2019s wife. She also alleged that Lamb threatened her, saying there would be consequences, when Stannard raised concerns to religious leaders.<\/p>\n Screenshots the Republic obtained of messages with another woman, Tammy Peacock, suggest Lamb \u2014 then a sitting county sheriff \u2014 threatened to leverage<\/a> Arizona\u2019s revenge porn law against her.<\/p>\n In a statement last week, Lamb spokesperson Ed Morabito told POLITICO that \u201cthese allegations are false and come from long-discredited political opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n Lamb did not lose any significant endorsements in the wake of the scandals \u2014 Trump reinforced his endorsement<\/a> in mid-July \u2014 even as Keenan made the allegations central to his campaign.<\/p>\n