Digital screenshots tied to Mark Lamb’s first sheriff campaign show he exchanged racist jokes and other discriminatory remarks with a border militia supporter, while his platform emphasized faith and family. Lamb did not respond to interview requests, and his
For Mark Lamb, the messages appear to have started as a joke—and then, in screenshots obtained from his first campaign circle, stretched into something harsher: racial slurs, homophobic and transphobic insults, misogynistic language, and even talk of violence.
The Republican congressional candidate. a former Pinal County sheriff endorsed by President Donald Trump. has branded himself as “America’s Sheriff.” But in a 2016 direct message exchange. the screenshots show Lamb making a racist joke after a Facebook user told him and others in a border militia group “work like (N-words).” Lamb replied with a pair of laughing emojis.
The same message thread shows Lamb later reacting warmly to other discriminatory language, and cheering slurs aimed at public officials. The digital record is tied to material obtained from a member of Lamb’s first campaign team. which includes accounts of Lamb’s private texting life after he was elected.
Lamb did not respond to multiple interview requests about the messages. His campaign did not elaborate on what Border Narcotics Intelligence—an armed border vigilante group mentioned in the exchanges—did on behalf of his sheriff run.
The candidate’s political rise is now colliding with what critics say are incompatible signals: screenshots suggest Lamb entertained language that contradicts his faith-and-family focused platform.
In the message exchange, a Facebook user named Nick Steele wrote that BNI “guys work like (N-words),” followed by “Hahahaha! So you don’t do anything?” Lamb answered with laughing emojis.
Steele then tried to explain. “LOL No we work like (N-words) cuz it’s the right thing to do…” Steele wrote. Lamb responded, “You guys do work hard,” adding, “I’m impressed! And grateful!”
Steele’s account ties him to Border Narcotics Intelligence. a self-appointed citizen militia that formed to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and proliferated during the Obama administration. In practice, the group’s members were often armed and dressed in paramilitary gear, according to the reporting. Their members were also involved in skirmishes with migrants they tried to detain.
The trove of digital material also includes sexually charged messages Lamb exchanged with multiple women after he was elected as sheriff—an investigation found he invited intimate encounters and indulged a yearslong habit of sexting that he later denied or sought to conceal. sometimes with threats or intimidation.
The messages involving discriminatory language were not limited to race. In another exchange. Steele referred to former Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. whose public scandal included revelations about his relationship with a young Mexican national named Jose Orozco. The screenshots show Babeu’s sexuality was met with caustic remarks.
Lamb’s response was a simple burst of laughter: “Hahahaha!” He followed with, “Sounds like karma is going to hopefully handle Babeu.”
In the same broader packet of information, some discriminatory exchanges were delivered to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors in 2020 by William Hubbard and Lamb’s political rival for sheriff, a former Mesa pastor named Tim Gustafson.
Gustafson urged the board to examine Lamb’s ethical conduct, and a recording of a meeting captured those requests.
Hubbard. a former staffer who handled the sheriff’s social media accounts during Lamb’s first campaign. said Lamb apologized soon after sending the racist remarks. Hubbard. who is Black. told the reporting that Lamb called him to apologize for the responses and that he was admitting Lamb had replied and that his replies weren’t appropriate.
Hubbard said Lamb minimized the texts, admitting only that he had said “ha, ha, ha.” Lamb told him he shouldn’t have done it and was sorry “if that offended you,” Hubbard said in a May 15 interview.
Hubbard described the moment as something he ultimately tried to let pass. His mother grew up in the Jim Crow South, he said, and given everything his family went through, the racist remarks were “insignificant.”
“To me, this was a hiccup, a man who was trying too hard to be liked,” Hubbard said. He added that Lamb felt he needed every vote and made a decision that he was going to be OK with someone using that language, regardless of whether he felt the same way.
But Hubbard’s relationship with Lamb later deteriorated. Four years after helping elect him, Hubbard joined efforts to oust the sheriff over what he described as ethical concerns, including allegations of sexting and threats against women.
The screenshots also show Lamb reacting to an incident in which Steele discussed the use of violence against an unnamed person. “I want to be there for that,” Lamb replied, followed again by “Hahahaha!”
In another exchange, Steele twice called a woman he had a political dispute with on social media a “stupid b—-,” and told Lamb to check out his response. Lamb replied, “Hahahaha! You shut her up!”
Lamb and Steele also shared laughs around a meme implying Hillary Clinton was a man, with Lamb answering “Hahahaha!”
Steele’s messages also suggest he played a role in the militia effort to elevate Lamb politically. Steele told Lamb he had “administrative powers” within the border vigilante group and made clear his “guys” were committed to making Lamb top law enforcement in Pinal County.
In one message, Steele asked Lamb whether he knew “there are 6 BNI guys working behind the scenes” supporting his campaign. Lamb replied, “Yes, and I can’t thank you guys enough! Thank you! Please pass my thanks on to all the other folks as well.”
Neither Steele nor Lamb spelled out what specific work BNI was doing in the exchanges.
Attempts to locate Steele by phone or address were unsuccessful. Steele did not return messages left on the Facebook account, which had been dormant for years. The page was last active in 2018 and included posts and comments about BNI and other groups. including posts about weapons. law enforcement and “illegal aliens.”.
BNI’s former director, Mike Presnell, could not be reached for comment.
The reporting also describes Border Narcotics Intelligence websites and social media pages as inactive. Archived versions of the group’s website show the organization sold badges, holsters, pins, challenge coins, patches, and belt buckles that resembled official law enforcement gear.
An archived gold badge sold with an “$80 associate membership” depicted a six-pointed star encircled with the group’s name and centered with the United States Great Seal.
In 2015, Steele defended the Confederate flag, saying the American Civil War was about “states’ rights,” not slavery.
Lamb’s campaign connections to vigilante movements extend beyond the screenshots. The candidate has flirted with the “constitutional sheriff” movement, a fringe view in which sheriffs claim absolute legal authority and can ignore directives from other political authorities.
In 2020, Lamb put together a citizens’ posse in response to concerns about Black Lives Matter protests. He said he wanted to give Pinal County residents the power to help police crowds and enforce the law.
Lamb’s son, Cade, also moved into militia circles and formed a border group called Sonoran Asset Group. Lamb attempted to raise money tied to Cade’s activities.
During Lamb’s 2024 failed campaign for U.S. Senate, he solicited donations based on a “shocking video” Cade shot at the border, raising questions about a secret “terrorist camp.”
For now, Lamb’s congressional run—aimed at succeeding Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs in Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District, southeast of Phoenix—moves toward a July 21 Republican primary against Builder Daniel Keenan.
But the screenshots place new pressure on Lamb at a moment when private messages and public branding are colliding in a way that voters can’t easily ignore, even as the candidate and his campaign have declined to provide further explanation.
Mark Lamb border militia Border Narcotics Intelligence Pinal County racist slurs sexting allegations Trump endorsed candidate Arizona Fifth Congressional District