Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, once a powerful Republican figure who was ousted from office nearly six years ago amid legal troubles, lost the mayoral race Wednesday for the suburb where he has lived for more than two decades.
His loss for mayor of Fountain Hills, Arizona, to incumbent mayor Ginny Dickey marks Arpaio’s third failed attempt to return to elected office since losing in 2016 after serving 24 years as Maricopa County sheriff.
Although election officials say all of Maricopa County’s votes have been counted, Arpaio, 90, said Wednesday night that he still hasn’t conceded defeat and would consult with an attorney about whether he could challenge the results.
“I’m not saying I’m going to do it,” Arpaio said, referring to the challenge in court. “I am not a lawyer. I just want a little information. In the current environment, a large percentage of people are not happy with the way the electoral system was working.
Dickey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The political stakes in Fountain Hills, a Republican-leaning city of 24,000, are far less important to Arpaio than when he was top law enforcement officer in a county of more than 4 million people.
Arpaio was defeated at the polls in 2016 by a Democratic rival, and the following year he was found guilty of criminal contempt of court for disobeying a judge’s order to suspend transit operations directed particularly against immigrants, although he was later pardoned by the then President Donald Trump.
Arpaio finished third in the Republican race for a U.S. Senate seat in 2018 and second in the 2020 primary in his bid to regain his job as sheriff.
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