Arpaio: Ward's campaign suggested I quit Senate race for pro-Trump gig

U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward's campaign manager twice asked her Republican primary rival Joe Arpaio to get out of the race, saying he could set up a paid speaking gig for the former sheriff with a group that supports President Donald Trump's agenda, Arpaio and his campaign said Tuesday.

A spokesman for Ward’s campaign denied the assertion, telling The Arizona Republic “no such offer was made.”

The claim comes as Arizona's three-way GOP Senate race is shaping up to be one of the nation’s marquee Senate races and could decide which party controls the chamber.

Arpaio and Ward both appeal to the same type of conservative voter, presumably splitting a constituency to the benefit of U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, a two-term House Republican who has emphasized more hard-line views on traditional conservative priorities in the run-up to the primary election.

Shawn Dow, Ward’s campaign manager, met with Arpaio on May 16 at his campaign office in Fountain Hills, according to the account from Arpaio’s campaign.

READ MORE: County to spend $30M to comply with Arpaio lawsuit orders

There, Dow urged Arpaio, the former Maricopa County sheriff, to get out of the race, saying his candidacy was damaging Ward’s bid.

In exchange for dropping out, Arpaio’s campaign said Dow suggested he could secure a paid job for Arpaio to deliver speeches for the Great America PAC, a pro-Trump political-action committee.

Arpaio: Ward's campaign made offer

Arpaio confirmed the nature of Dow’s offer to The Republic on Tuesday, during a phone interview just hours after he turned in petition signatures to appear on the Aug. 28 primary ballot.

Arpaio said he was disappointed that details of the meeting were leaked.

“Yeah, there was smoke there on those comments,” Arpaio said. “... Yeah, you know, it happened. ... I can’t lie and say it didn’t happen.”

Arpaio said Dow approached him a second time about dropping out of the race with a suggestion he could get a paid job from the Great America PAC.

Arpaio’s campaign manager, Chad Willems, said he learned of the enticement from Arpaio.

“He insinuated, I guess would be the word, were the sheriff to drop out or not file, or not run, that he could secure a job with Great America PAC, Trump's super PAC," Willems said. "Making speeches, getting paid to make these speeches, around the country."

When Arpaio rebuffed the offer, Willems said Dow told the former sheriff that Ward’s campaign would challenge the validity of his signatures to try to knock Arpaio off the ballot.

Arpaio's campaign submitted about 10,000 signatures Tuesday. It takes about 6,200 to qualify for the ballot.

Willems said Arpaio told him that Dow brought up the unsolicited exit strategy a second time.

That conversation, he said, took place May 17 at a Tea Party Scottsdale event where both candidates were scheduled to talk about their campaigns.

Great America PAC backs Trump

After learning of the alleged proposal, Willems said he called a high-level official with the PAC to suss out its veracity. He said the official, whose name he would not disclose, was unaware of any such conversations about Arpaio.

A representative from the Great America PAC did not respond to The Republic’s interview request.

That PAC was formed in February 2016 to support Trump’s presidential campaign, and during that cycle it raised nearly $29 million and spent more than $23 million on ads that supported Trump, according to Factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

The PAC's executive leadership has ties to Ward.

Ed Rollins, a veteran GOP consultant, leads the PAC and was named chairman of Ward’s campaign last October. Her campaign identified him in that role at least as late as January but her campaign spokesman on Tuesday would only call him "a volunteer."

The PAC has also lent its financial support to her candidacy through online voter contact, donating at least $20,000, Federal Election Commission records show.

Andrew Beal, the billionaire founder and chairman of Texas-based Beal Bank, is a key supporter of Great America PAC and KelliPAC, a political-action committee that supports Ward’s candidacy.

Beal gave KelliPAC $500,000 on Feb. 24, Federal Election Commission records show. It is easily the largest and one of only four disclosed donations to KelliPAC since the start of 2017.

In 2016, Beal gave $2 million to Great America PAC, making him the second-largest donor to that PAC that election cycle.

Asked Tuesday if Rollins has maintained that campaign role, Ward's spokesman would only say he was "an early, high-profile supporter" who advises Ward "in a volunteer capacity."

Zachery Henry, a spokesman for Ward, said in a written statement that Dow has “a relationship” with Arpaio.

“However, no such offer was made and any assertion otherwise is flat-out wrong,” Henry’s statement said. “False rumors are spread regularly in political campaigns, but we remain laser-focused on winning the primary election.”

Pressed about the timing of Dow's conversations with Arpaio, Henry acknowledged that Arpaio and Dow did talk on May 16 and May 17.

“As a longtime friend of Arpaio’s, Mr. Dow did see him on those two occasions and discussed the growing momentum of Dr. Ward’s candidacy as well as the struggles of Mr. Arpaio’s campaign," Henry wrote in an email on Tuesday.

Dow joined Ward’s campaign in April and has previously worked as the state director for the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who also is a high-profile supporter of Ward.

This seems to be the latest attempt to elbow Arpaio, a potent primary force, out of the race.

In January, some Republicans drafted a state party resolution that extolled Arpaio’s tenure as sheriff from 1993 to 2017. At the same time, it “respectfully” urged him to exit the Senate race.

The resolution did not advance.

Republic reporter Ronald J. Hansen contributed to this article.

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