Race for Pinal County Sheriff gets more interesting, Democrat candidate declares

SBINSIDER| March 20th

While Sheriff Lamb is “exploring” running for US Senate, two candidates have emerged to replace him. Lamb has let it be know that he would support Ross Teeple, a current Pinal County deputy. Both are Republicans. This past week, a new candidate has emerged from the city of Maricopa.

MARICOPA — Patrick Melvin has told PinalCentral he will be running for Pinal County sheriff in the 2024 Democratic primary.

Melvin 58, husband of Rhonda for 32 years and father to three children, brings a substantive amount of police experience. He retired from the Phoenix Police Department and was hired as Maricopa’s first officer and chief following the city’s incorporation. He also served as police chief of Port Arthur, Texas, and the Salt River Indian Community.

Melvin will be running for the Democratic nomination in the primary in August 2024, against whomever wins the Republican primary. Assuming he prevails, Melvin would be running uphill as Pinal voted about 58% for Republicans in the 2020 general election.

Melvin resigned from both chief positions at Salt River and Port Arthur. PinalCentral reported at the time that he resigned at Salt River after being placed on administrative leave for seeking positions at large cities like Phoenix and Seattle.

The Beaumont Enterprise in Texas reported in 2018 that Melvin was asked to resign in Port Arthur months after officers in the local police association voted “no confidence” in his performance.