Joe Arpaio says he’s running for mayor of Fountain Hills — again

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio hasn't won an election in more than a decade. But that's not stopping him from considering a run for the mayorship of Fountain Hills — for the second time in two years.

On Monday afternoon, Arpaio took to social media to announce his intention to run again for mayor. "I intend to be a candidate for Mayor of Fountain Hills, Arizona. I will submit the necessary official paperwork soon," he tweeted.

Arpaio, now 91, helmed the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for 24 years, and his scandal-ridden tenure made the office synonymous with racial profiling, abuses of power and police misconduct. He even orchestrated the 2007 false arrests of Phoenix New Times' co-founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin.

Last year, the former sheriff launched a bid for mayor of Fountain Hills — a wealthy, conservative town in the eastern reaches of Maricopa County, where he lives. He lost to incumbent Ginny Dickey by a little more than 200 votes in the Aug. 10 election. Arpaio's campaign platform included creating an independent police department for the town, which currently contracts with Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for its law enforcement.

Before that, Arpaio unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2018 and lost two elections for sheriff, once in 2016, and again in 2020.

Still, none of those losses have deterred him from running again.

Arpaio declined to provide details to New Times about his campaign plans but confirmed that he intends to run. "That was just a little blip I put out — that I plan on running," he said. "I'll talk about it when I actually do it. 

"This is just a continuation of running for mayor," he added. "I'm just continuing my campaign. Nothing changes. I never conceded. So it's just a continuation of my campaign."

When pressed, Arpaio admitted that he lost the August 2022 mayoral election but emphasized that it was only by a slim margin.

The Fountain Hills mayor serves a two-year term, so the seat will be up for grabs in 2024. It's still too early for potential candidates to submit paperwork expressing their intention to run. According to the town's website, the filing period begins in March.

So far, Dickey has declined to say whether she will run for reelection — and potentially face Arpaio once again.