Rep.-elect Mark Lamb says Democratic Congress will make it harder to lock in border gains

Rep.-elect Mark Lamb (R-Ariz.) says the border will be his top priority in Washington, even as he concedes it will be harder to lock in border policy now that Democrats control Congress.

“All along the campaign trail, people have asked me, what’s your number one priority? And it is the border,” Lamb told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Wednesday, in an interview in which he also dismissed claims that he lives at his family’s Tennessee ranch.

The former Pinal County sheriff, who defeated Democrat Elizabeth Lee in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District last week, said President Donald Trump’s administration fixed the border so efficiently that voters lost sight of how bad it had been.

“Well, the border has been fixed, and unfortunately, I think this actually hurt, because they fixed it so quickly and so efficiently,” Lamb said. “With President Trump stepping in, immediately we saw a difference that I think the American people forgot how bad it was. The people of Arizona forgot how bad the border was under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And now we’re gonna pay the price.”

Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

“Hopefully we get it right in two years, and President Trump’s gonna be able to continue to secure the border,” Lamb said. “We have got to solidify long-term those border things, but it’s gonna be a lot tougher now … with the Democrats having control of the majority in the House and the Senate. It’s gonna be really difficult to get anything through.”

He added that he worries about what could happen if the presidency changes hands in 2028.

“I’m a little concerned in two years when if there’s a changeover in leadership at the president level, we could go right back to open borders, and it will probably be 10 to 100 times worse than it was under the Biden administration,” he said.

What Lamb has promised on immigration

Lamb laid out his immigration priorities in a September post on his campaign website.

“As a member of Congress, I will support effective border security, strong federal law enforcement, cooperation with state and local agencies and policies that hold traffickers accountable,” he wrote.

He pushed back on calls to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but supports “effective oversight” and “responsible reform.”

Lamb looks for border allies across the aisle

Between orientation sessions and dinners at the Capitol, Lamb said he has also talked border policy with Democratic Rep.-elect JoAnna Mendoza, who unseated Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani in the neighboring 6th Congressional District.

“She expressed some desire to do something about the border because she has Cochise County in that district,” Lamb said. But he questioned whether moderate Democrats would break with their party. “The Democrats vote lockstep.”

Lamb takes office Jan. 3.

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