POLITICAL FIGURES: “Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff whose hard-line immigration stance led to a federal conviction before President Donald Trump pardoned him last year, said Tuesday [1-9-18] he is running for U.S. Senate in Arizona, scrambling the politics of one of this year’s most competitive races.
Mr. Arpaio, 85 years old, is entering the GOP primary to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who is one of the Senate’s most vocal critics of the president.
In recent years, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, became a national hero of anti-immigration forces for his aggressive efforts to round up undocumented immigrants. His tactics—including harsh treatment of people he took into custody—were derided by human-rights groups, attracted hundreds of lawsuits and ultimately ran afoul of the Justice Department.
A federal judge last year found Mr. Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt for defying a 2011 court order to halt immigration raids, but Mr. Trump granted him a pardon one month later, praising the sheriff for what he called ‘selfless public service.’ Mr. Arpaio was defeated in his 2016 bid for re-election, ending a 24-year career as sheriff.”
-Janet Hook, “Joe Arpaio Will Run for Arizona U.S. Senate Seat,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 9, 2018 03:06pm