Despite facing allegations of sexual impropriety and claims he doesn’t live in the district, former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb won the Republican primary in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, according to a race call by the Associated Press.
The first round of early results shows Lamb leading Republican Daniel Keenan with 59% of the vote.
Lamb has been dogged by a litany of sordid allegations throughout the primary after the Arizona Republic published extensive reporting on claims he engaged in sexting relationships outside of his marriage and other bad behavior. He also faces claims he doesn’t live in the district after his family opened a ranch in rural Tennessee this year.
The Lamb campaign has denied all of those allegations.
The bad press was not enough to undercut Lamb, who has high name recognition in the district following his time as the Pinal County sheriff and, more importantly, received an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
CD5 is a heavily Republican district that stretches from the southeast Valley into Pinal County. The winner of the GOP primary is all but guaranteed to win the seat in the general election.
But that hasn’t stopped Democrats from putting up their own nominee.
Nurse Elizabeth Lee won the three-way Democratic primary, according to the Associated Press.
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Find everything you need to know about elections in Arizona and Maricopa County from KJZZ's politics team. -
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