U.S. House · Arizona's 5th District

East Valley suburbs of Phoenix, including parts of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley, and Apache Junction.

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

✓ Fact-checked 2026-09-25: 24 claims re-checked against their sources · 6 corrected · 1 removed

A second, independent research pass re-opened every cited source for this race and corrected or removed anything the source didn’t support.

  • Legal-allegation record item about Mark Lamb was re-sourced from Wikipedia's summary to directly fetched Arizona Republic and KTAR News reports (rule requires allegations be sourced to a fetched news report, not Wikipedia). Text rewritten to match what KTAR actually reports: Lamb 'largely declined to comment' and his wife called the reports a 'massive smear campaign,' rather than the previous unverifiable claim that Lamb 'called many of them baseless.'
  • American Sheriff Foundation nonprofit-dissolution record item re-sourced from Wikipedia to a directly fetched AZ Luminaria news article; added detail (IRS revocation in 2021 for unfiled Form 990s; state dissolution in 2024 for unfiled annual reports) confirmed by the source.
  • Context paragraph's allegation sentence corrected to match verified source wording ('no evidence that Lamb acted in a criminal manner') and updated citations.
  • Removed Mark Lamb's 'opposes stricter gun laws' position: it was inferred from a vague campaign-platform mention of 'guns' alongside 'faith, family, freedom,' not a direct policy statement, violating the no-inference-from-vague-language rule.
  • Verified both primary vote percentages against Ballotpedia's raw vote tables (Lamb 58.6%/34,086 votes vs Keenan 41.4%/24,114; Lee 64.5%/22,377 votes) — both were already correct.
  • Confirmed general-election slate is exactly Elizabeth Lee (D) and Mark Lamb (R), no other candidates, matching Ballotpedia's current race page.
  • All of Elizabeth Lee's background facts, quotes, and positions verified verbatim against her Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey; no changes needed.

On the ballot · 2 candidates

Where they stand — side by side

Only positions documented in a cited source are shown. Where an officeholder’s recorded votes speak to an issue, the votes set the position (marked “votes”). A dash means we found no clear public position — not that the candidate has none.

ISSUEElizabeth Lee
D
Mark Lamb
R
Stronger rent regulation and tenant protectionsSupports[5]—
Expand public health coverageSupports[5]—
Public funding for school choice (vouchers / charters)Opposes[5]—

The candidates, in full

Elizabeth Lee

DRegistered nurse and patient advocate

Won the July 21, 2026 Democratic primary with 64.5% of the vote

Elizabeth Lee is a registered nurse, board-certified reproductive health and infertility nurse, and patient advocate, running as the Democratic nominee to become the first woman to represent Arizona's 5th Congressional District. She has been affiliated with reproductive-health and healthcare-advocacy organizations including the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.[4]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsExpand public health coverage

    Says healthcare is a human right and pledges to fight so that no patient is denied care or bankrupted by medical costs, drawing on her career as a reproductive-health nurse and patient advocate.[5]

  • OpposesPublic funding for school choice (vouchers / charters)

    Opposes directing public education dollars to private schools, saying 'public dollars belong in public schools.'[5]

    “Public dollars belong in public schools, and I will fight in Washington to ensure Arizona invests in its students instead of subsidizing unregulated private institutions.”
  • SupportsStronger rent regulation and tenant protections

    Says she will fight to curb corporate control of the real-estate market to make housing more affordable for Arizona families.[5]

In their words — priorities

  • Healthcare as a human right, citing her nursing background and work with families facing infertility and other medical crises, pledging to fight so 'no one is left behind, no child denied care and no family bankrupted for the right to live.'[5]
  • Increasing public school funding, opposing the diversion of taxpayer dollars to private schools she says face little transparency or accountability.[5]
  • Addressing the housing affordability crisis by curbing corporate control of real estate.[5]

Background

  • Earned a high school diploma from Dover High School, a bachelor's degree from Northwestern State University in 2005, and an associate degree from the Carrington College of Nursing in 2013.[4]
  • Career experience includes working as a nurse, consultant, and healthcare advocate; has been affiliated with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the ASRM Center for Policy Leadership, the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society, Reproductive Freedom for All, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, and the Arizona State Board of Nursing.[4]
  • Says she grew up battling an undiagnosed illness for years, which she says shaped her decision to become a nurse and patient advocate.[5]
  • Endorsed by Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D), state Sen. Analise Ortiz (D), and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D), among other groups.[4]

Campaign money

Raised $153K · spent $126K · $27K cash on hand (through 2026-07-01) FEC filing ↗

Mark Lamb

RFormer Sheriff of Pinal County (2017-2024)

Won the July 21, 2026 Republican primary with 58.6% of the vote, endorsed by President Trump

Mark Lamb is the former Sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona (2017-2024) and the Republican nominee for Arizona's 5th Congressional District, an open seat. He was previously the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2024, losing the primary to Kari Lake. He received the endorsement of President Donald Trump and Turning Point USA in this race, and won his primary amid public allegations from multiple women that he sent them sexually charged messages; a Pinal County Attorney's Office review concluded it found no evidence of criminal conduct.[2][7]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

On the record — official actions

  • legal2026-06-22 · Multiple women alleged, in an Arizona Republic investigation independently verified by KTAR News, that Lamb sent them explicit photos and sexually charged messages from his personal phone and campaign accounts while serving as sheriff; one woman said he threatened her with felony revenge-porn charges. Lamb largely declined to comment on the allegations; his wife called the reports a 'massive smear campaign' in a Facebook post. In June 2026, Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller concluded a review of the matter, finding 'no evidence that Lamb acted in a criminal manner.'[6][7]
  • actionThe American Sheriff Foundation, a charity Lamb established in 2018 that raised more than $50,000 in its first year, left at least $18,000 in spending unaccounted for on tax filings, the Arizona Republic reported in 2020. The IRS revoked its tax-exempt status in 2021 for failing to file required reports, and Arizona moved to administratively dissolve it in 2024 after it also failed to file required state annual reports.[8]

In their words — priorities

  • Campaigns on a platform of traditional values, describing a need for what news coverage characterized as a 'national revival of faith, family, freedom,' while denouncing what he calls 'America's moral decay.'[2]

Background

  • Born in Hawaii in 1972; graduated from Chandler High School in Arizona.[2]
  • Worked for the police department of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for six years before joining the Pinal County Sheriff's Office in 2012.[2]
  • Elected Sheriff of Pinal County in 2016 and re-elected unopposed in 2020, serving from January 2017 to December 2024.[2]
  • Co-founded Protect America Now, a coalition of sheriffs, in February 2021.[2]
  • Ran for U.S. Senate in 2024 to succeed Kyrsten Sinema, and was defeated in the Republican primary by Kari Lake.[2]

Campaign money

Raised $1.2M · spent $979K · $243K cash on hand (through 2026-07-01) FEC filing ↗

Research notes & limits

Ballotpedia's page for Mark Lamb lacked a biography section and detailed 2026 issue coverage, so his general background is drawn from Wikipedia; the misconduct allegations and the American Sheriff Foundation matter are sourced directly to the Arizona Republic, KTAR News, and AZ Luminaria news reports rather than to Wikipedia's summary. Lamb's campaign website did not render usable content in this environment (JavaScript-rendered), so his specific 2026 issue positions beyond general campaign-theme reporting could not be confirmed; a previously included 'opposes stricter gun laws' position was removed because it was inferred from a vague campaign slogan mentioning 'guns' rather than a direct policy statement. Elizabeth Lee's positions are drawn from her Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey answers.

Sources · 8

Researched 2026-09-25. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona, 2026 · Ballotpedia Reference
  2. 2.Mark Lamb (sheriff) · Wikipedia Reference
  3. 3.Mark Lamb · Ballotpedia Reference
  4. 4.Elizabeth Lee · Ballotpedia Reference
  5. 5.Elizabeth Lee - Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2025 Candidate's own words
  6. 6.Women say Mark Lamb used threats to suppress sexting, nude pics · The Arizona Republic · 2026-05-20 News report
  7. 7.Mark Lamb investigation finds no criminal conduct · KTAR News 92.3 FM · 2026-06-22 News report
  8. 8.Sheriff Mark Lamb's nonprofit loses federal and state status after administrative missteps · AZ Luminaria · 2024-12-20 News report