Lamb runs for Congress in Arizona from his Tennessee ranch

The former Pinal County sheriff released a pair of videos highlighting issues facing the East Valley while at the same time celebrating the "grand opening" of his guest ranch in the rural town of Michie, Tennessee.

The videos about data centers and faulty cell service in Arizona were rarities compared with the dozens of videos he has released since April about moving his family east of the Mississippi River. Michie, which has fewer than 700 residents, is 1,500 miles away from the district he is running to represent.

Lamb has offered little explanation about why he chose Tennessee or why he planted roots in another state at the peak of Arizona primary campaign season in the weeks before early voting begins in June.

One reason Lamb gave was Buford Pusser, the rural Tennessee sheriff immortalized for delivering small-town justice with a hickory club in the 1973 film "Walking Tall." In real life, Pusser likely murdered his wife, prosecutors said in 2025.

Lamb bought a 140-acre parcel to launch a new rural vacation business and a neighboring 75-acre "family compound" where he said he and his wife, Janel, would retire.

Records show Lamb bought the ranch with a $2 million loan tied to a Queen Creek couple who have supported his campaign.

He told his social media audience the purpose of his new venture was to make up for the "financial blow" he would face if he were elected to Congress, where he would be required to scale back his consulting work.

"I don't think a lot of people understand the sacrifice it takes, when you run for office, what you lose out on," he said in a May 8 YouTube video, standing in front of the gated entry to his new horse property.

The grand opening of "The Lamb Ranch" came days after an investigation by The Arizona Republic found the sheriff invited intimate encounters and indulged a yearslong habit of sexting that he later denied or sought to conceal, sometimes with threats or intimidation. The LDS Church investigated the allegations, The Republic found.

Digital evidence also showed the sheriff made a racist joke about Black people being lazy when a border extremist messaged him the N-word.

Fellow Republicans have rebuked Lamb's conduct as high-profile sex scandals in California, Texas and Maine have rocked Capitol Hill. Some have pressured him to drop out of the race. Lamb's campaign in April called the allegations "false" but has not engaged with or denied any specific claims in The Republic's reporting since.

Lamb posted videos of himself at the Lamb Ranch homestead at least three times each week in May. He is the star of a YouTube channel to market the business, which also features Janel, their children and grandchildren.

Lamb was quick to reassure voters that he was not abandoning Arizona, saying the couple's single-family home in an exclusive San Tan Valley subdivision would continue to be his primary residence. Some of his neighbors, however, were raising questions.

"How in the world will you represent us in Chandler if you LIVE IN TENNESSEE???????" Instagram user julieachildaz wrote in May.

"How's the weather in Tennessee today," Justin Corvelo, whose house is adjacent to Lamb's, quipped on the former sheriff's Facebook page June 1.

Tennessee has become fodder for Lamb's political rivals. Daniel Keenan, his competitor in the GOP primary, claims Lamb's "heart" is no longer in the district now that his family has moved away.

Other Republicans say Lamb is making the party look bad.

"Not living in your community, if you ever look at polling, is a big deal to voters," said GOP U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who is running for Arizona governor. "That's just another thing that has to be explained."

Lamb did not respond to interview requests from The Republic. Neither he nor his campaign addressed a detailed list of issues surrounding the Tennessee purchases.

In April, a campaign spokesperson responded to a Republic inquiry about Lamb's residency with: "Is that a serious question from a serious reporter?"

YouTube channel advertises Lamb family's Tennessee 'roots'

The U.S. Constitution requires House candidates to live in the state where they run for office.

Most congressional candidates shy away even from the appearance of not living in the district they want to represent, let alone the appearance of not living in the state.

Lamb has leaned hard into Tennessee living. His YouTube videos open with a family jingle, complete with a harmonica's wail, whip-crack sound and "The Lamb Ranch" spelled out with a cartoon rope.

The ranch project dominated Lamb's social media timelines in May. The former sheriff appeared in photos and videos posted roughly every other day.

On May 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 20, 22, 23, 26 and 31, he was shown hard at work on the ranch, talking about "getting it all organized," and touring viewers around the property. On May 27 and 29, he promoted footage from the Memorial Day weekend grand opening.

His campaign social media accounts show one event in Arizona during the same time period — a May 29 meeting with the Arizona Builders Alliance. Lamb thanked the alliance for a "great meeting."

On June 3, Lamb told viewers he hit a deer with his truck on the way to the ranch. He talked about the damage. "And of course, had to come home and say hello to Lotus," he said of the family dog.

In dozens of YouTube videos and Instagram posts and on the ranch website, Lamb's family has advertised the property as a rural resort getaway with six cabins, six motel rooms and a wellness center complete with a Finnish sauna, cold plunge, weight gym, pickleball court and Jacuzzi.

And they have big plans for future development. Lamb says in videos they want to add a coffee shop, a soda bar and a "riding barn" for livestock auctions and "ropin' rodeos."

The Lambs' YouTube page uses attention-grabbing headlines and thumbnails to show the family settling into a rural lifestyle. One video shows Lamb's kids dealing with a "MASSIVE Swarm of Bees" that had nested on the property. Another video jokes, "We Hired a Full-Time RANCH KAREN," and features Janel dressed in a curly-haired wig and shaking her finger at the camera.

The publicity strategies mirror ones Lamb and his wife have used to amass hundreds of thousands of followers on YouTube. His most successful account, @RealAmericanSheriff, posts reactions to police body camera footage from across the country, luring viewers with stories like "Cocky YouTuber Finally Gets What He Deserves" and "Psycho Ex-Girlfriend Ruins Christmas." Other titles are raunchier: "Police Catch Couple in The Act."

In one video, "The Worst Hernia You Have Ever Seen," Lamb and his wife laughed as police detained a man with a misshapen, melon-sized bulge at the top of his upper abdomen.

"My man needs to put a shirt on. Like, ASAP," Janel said.

Supporters bankrolled Tennessee ranch purchase

Two of Lamb’s Arizona supporters supplied the $2 million mortgage for the ranch, records show.

Casey and Nicole Upshaw, who hosted a dinner for Lamb and another Republican candidate in January, operate a company called Venture Bros. Lending.

Venture Bros. doesn't appear to have a website and has a scant digital profile. It was formed in August and shares the name of an animated adult comedy show on Cartoon Network. Tennessee mortgage records show Venture Bros. on March 31 loaned Lamb's company, American Sheriff LLC, the funds to buy the ranch property.

Lamb purchased the nearby family compound separately for $1.05 million, records show. An official with the McNairy County Register of Deeds said there was "no documentation of a mortgage attached to the parcel."

Casey Upshaw said his relationship with Lamb was one of a lender and client. He said he had only met Lamb once or twice.

"I don't really know much about him personally," Upshaw said in a June 5 interview. "We do loans for all types of people. ... It's the same as like a bank."

He said he couldn't say much about Lamb's loan without first consulting lawyers. He said Venture Bros. had no interest in the property beyond carrying the mortgage. "It's strictly business, and there's definitely not any type of favors or anything like that."

Casey Upshaw also couldn't talk about hosting the dinner for Lamb, saying his wife handled it.

The couple wrote online in January that it was an honor to host Lamb, his wife, Janel, and state Rep. Julie Willoughby at their home. “Can’t wait for the next,” they wrote in the joint Instagram post. “So blessed.”

The Upshaws live in Queen Creek. Casey Upshaw is a retired firefighter. Nicole Upshaw was previously married to the founder of a multimillion-dollar clothing company.

Their social media pages offer glimpses into a luxury lifestyle, with beach vacations to the Bahamas, Grenada and Saint Lucia with helicopter rides, a “private sandbar” and yacht getaways.

The couple has donated to several political campaigns since late 2025, including to Willoughby and Nick Masse, a candidate for Queen Creek Town Council. State or federal campaign records don't show any other donations in the past decade. They had not given money directly to Lamb's campaign as of late March, records show.

There's no publicly available information about the structure of the loan to American Sheriff or the repayment terms.

A government ethics expert said Lamb's decision to borrow money from a supporter raises questions.

Davina Hurt, with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, told The Republic it was common for government officials to engage in private business dealings.

The question was the structure of the relationship, she said. It mattered if the loan terms were comparable to market conditions, if the arrangement was fully disclosed, and if the transaction was conducted at arm's length.

"A contribution creates gratitude. A loan creates ongoing dependence," Hurt said. "Neither is automatically improper, but both make transparency more important, not less."

Move prompted by Tennessee county sheriff later accused of murder

The notorious Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser brought Lamb to the remote rolling hill county of the Volunteer State.

Lamb was named Sheriff of the Year in 2025 by the Buford Pusser Museum. He and his wife toured Pusser's old house, and both posed with a replica of the 4-foot club Pusser used to swing at criminals. Lamb hoisted "the Walking Tall Stick" over his shoulder and swaggered toward the camera before signing the stick with a Sharpie.

"Sheriff Pusser was a legend of his time, famous before Social Media and even cable TV, which is very impressive!" he wrote in a May 24, 2025, Instagram post.

Pusser was also a wife-beater and a killer, according to a state district attorney and detectives with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Three months after Lamb's visit, authorities announced they had exhumed the body of Pusser's wife and found evidence of long-term abuse. They said they had enough evidence to charge Pusser in her death if he had still been alive.

That's not how the legend goes. Local lore fueled by Pusser's account and Hollywood mythos made the sheriff into a determined crusader. Pusser told police his wife was gunned down in a drive-by ambush orchestrated by the Dixie Mafia in 1967. The club-wielding Pusser set out to dismantle the mob one hickory beatdown at a time.

Pusser died in a 1974 car wreck. His wife's case was reopened in 2022. An autopsy, along with ballistic and blood analysis, determined the ambush was staged. Pusser's wife was shot outside the vehicle and positioned inside after her death, authorities said in August.

Nine months later, in May, Lamb credited Pusser with bringing him to McNairy County. And the current McNairy County sheriff said he was the one who first took Lamb to the ranch.

"I’ll take the credit or the blame for showing you guys the ranch," Sheriff Guy Buck posted on The Lamb Ranch YouTube channel in May. "So glad to have y’all as neighbors and what a great addition to McNairy County."

From county sheriff to multimillion-dollar ranch host

Lamb's jump to multimillion-dollar ranch host came after a string of failed businesses in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The Lambs lost a home to foreclosure, had two vehicles repossessed and filed for bankruptcy, according to his memoir. He moved his family 11 times in 13 years in pursuit of business opportunities before opening a pest-control business in Arizona.

Law enforcement springboarded him into celebrity status. He was elected Pinal County sheriff in 2016. Outside contracts and speaking gigs sweetened the pot for a job that paid roughly $100,000 a year.

He made Pinal County a reality TV star with a show called "Live PD," in which film crews trailed his deputies. He also launched his own subscription streaming service in 2021 called the American Sheriff Network, which was styled on the show "Cops."

That segued into his YouTube career and the Lamb Ranch videos he continues posting while running for Congress.

Mario Joos, a YouTube strategist whose clients include top creators like MrBeast, said Lamb appears to be monetizing the content through sponsorships, brand deals, channel memberships and advertising.

He estimated the annual revenue from The Lamb Ranch account was minimal, but the Real American Sheriff account was in the "low six-figure range."

Lamb's financial position is unclear based on the forms he filled out to run for Congress. Public disclosures required of candidates and elected officials offer a limited snapshot. Assets are reported in ranges, not absolutes. So are liabilities.

His net worth could be as high as $935,000, or he could be $718,000 in debt, according to what he reported in December.

When he ran for Senate in 2024, he reported making about $355,000 in income through 2022 and into 2023. About one-third of it came from his salary as sheriff; the rest came from consulting, wages from the conservative group Turning Point, a book deal and fees from more than two dozen speaking engagements.

He reported making $163,000 as sheriff in 2024 and $49,000 as a consultant in 2025. He made an additional undisclosed amount from "entertainment" and other consulting work.

MAGA sheriff turns to MAHA lifestyle

Lamb appears to be marketing a back-to-the-land aesthetic. And he's got the $30,000 tractor to help sell it.

The Lamb Ranch taps the new right-wing trend of "homesteading" and trading urban hustle for country living, albeit with luxury amenities. The Lambs call it "a first-class experience ... on a farm."

“We went all in on the American dream,” an April 4 Lamb Ranch Instagram post said. "Our family is pulling together to learn how to run a ranch and sharing the process with y'all."

Videos show the Lambs’ young grandchildren playing in the yard barefoot, tending to farm animals and sipping water from a garden hose. One post shows a young child in the seat of an all-terrain vehicle. Its caption: “The life you want will cost you the life you have.”

Some Republicans have romanticized an off-the-grid, agrarian lifestyle amid growing mistrust of the country’s public health institutions and modern medicine. Many of them have drawn inspiration from the president’s health secretary and longtime anti-vaccine activist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his call to “Make America Healthy Again.”

Some have formed communities that embrace skepticism of vaccines, a return to natural medicine and unprocessed foods like raw milk.

Lamb is promoting a more manicured rural experience. Ranch guests will be able to retire to the sauna after a day of horseback riding or some other choose-your-own adventure. "Shooting guns," Lamb said.

McNairy County residents have embraced Lamb as one of their own.

"Y’all join us in giving a big Top O’ the River welcome to our new neighbors, Sheriff Mark Lamb and family!" a local restaurant wrote in a March 27 Facebook post. "We’re proud to have him and his family here and hope you feel right at home."

About 300 people attended the Memorial Day weekend grand opening, which took place nearly one year to the day after Lamb received the Buford Pusser award.

Inside the barn, a country singer set the tone. Outside, kids enjoyed a bouncy house, treats and dirty sodas from tables adorned with star-spangled bunting.

Playing YouTube tour guide, Lamb reminded his audience that this was "where Buford Pusser from 'Walking Tall' used to be" as he introduced McNairy Sheriff Buck.

“Glad to have you out here,” Buck said.

But amid the fanfare and new neighbor greetings, one rancher reminded people Lamb wasn't in Michie to stay. He'd have to return to Arizona and the people he wants to represent.

"Just his kids" would live in Tennessee, Steve Gwinnup wrote on Facebook. "He bought my ranch."