America knows former Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio as one of President Trump's earliest supporters and one of Steven Seagal's close personal friends. But did you know he's an Army veteran, serving from 1950-1954?
Why is this news? 85-year-old Sheriff Joe has announced that he's running for the U.S. Senate seat that currently belongs to retiring Senator Jeff Flake. He'll be 86 on election day and would be 92 when his term ended in 2025. If you think that's too old, Sheriff Joe would certainly remind you that SC Senator Strom Thurmond was still a Senator at the age of 100.
Why is Sheriff Joe running?
I am running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Arizona, for one unwavering reason: to support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again. https://t.co/ANppBdDOtp
— Sheriff Joe Arpaio (@RealSheriffJoe) January 9, 2018
Also of note: President Trump pardoned Sheriff Joe after he was convicted on a federal criminal contempt charge. Arpaio refused to follow a 2011 judicial order that his deputies not detain undocumented immigrants simply because they were undocumented. There also had to be evidence of a crime. He ignored the instruction and, in 2017, he was convicted.
Trump and Arpaio first connected over their shared belief that President Barack Obama faked his Hawaiian birth certificate and the friendship has continued all the way to the White House.
Will Sheriff Joe be Arizona's next Senator? Did you realize he was an Army veteran? How many of you were even born when he was serving as a military policeman in France in the early 1950s?
![](http://images05.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-04/1time%20after%20action%20pbs%201200.jpg?itok=pJUPG18e "Decorated combat veteran Stacy Pearsall hosts PBS' acclaimed series "After Action." (Des’ola Mecozzi Photography, SCETV)")
