Mark Lamb, a right-wing sheriff from Arizona and a pro-Trump activist, told attendees at an Arizona pro-gun rally Saturday that he is “seriously considering making a run at the U.S. Senate.”
“Do not give an inch on your Second Amendment rights,” he told rallygoers.
Lamb, who built a fan base as a reality TV personality, created Protect America Now, which describes itself as a “law and order” group, in the month following Trump supporters’ attack on the U.S. Capitol. “I don’t know how loud we have to get before they have to listen to us and know we will no longer tolerate them stripping our freedoms away,” Lamb said, calling the insurrectionists “very loving, Christian people” who “just happen to support President Trump a lot.”
“We support Sheriffs and law enforcement members that believe in God, Family and Freedom,” says Protect America Now’s website, which asks for a monthly donation of $17.76 to “help us win this battle for the soul of America.”
Along with many other right-wing sheriffs, Lamb opposed public health restrictions designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. At a 2021 anti-vaccine rally, he told supporters, “We’re going to find out what kind of patriots you are. We’re going to find out who is willing to die for freedom.” Lamb has also trafficked in QAnon conspiracy theories.
Like his ally, so-called “constitutional sheriff” Richard Mack, Lamb embraced Trump supporters’ false claims about the 2020 presidential election and promoted Dinesh D’Souza’s widely debunked propaganda film “2000 Mules.” Last year, Lamb entered into a partnership with True the Vote, a right-wing elections group with a track record of promoting unsubstantiated voter fraud claims, and he pledged to get more deeply involved in monitoring elections. Reporting for Bolts magazine, Jessica Pishko called Lamb’s rhetoric “part of an escalating campaign to police the vote,” noting that it could “encourage extremist vigilante violence be perpetuating baseless rumors of fraud, often against Black and Latinx communities.”
Earlier this month, Media Matters noted that Lamb was building his right-wing brand in preparation for a possible Senate run, citing his affiliation with the far-right Claremont Institute, where he is a fellow, and connections to the anti-immigration group FAIR.
Lamb has also published a children’s book, which he is promoting with now-familiar attacks on “woke” books that deal with race and sexuality. Lamb’s publisher, BRAVE Books, warns that “a war is being waged for the hearts and minds of the next generation” and says its books are meant to provide “an alternative to the current progressive agenda dominating children’s literature.”