Sheriff Richard Mack, founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), announced Saturday that he is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona’s District 8.

The District 8 seat is up for a special election, as Congressman Trent Franks recently resigned. The primary election will be in February of 2018 and the general in April.

Mack, in his announcement e-mail, stated he will stand up against the abuses of Federal alphabet agencies, offering an extensive list ranging from the IRS to the FDA and the FBI.

He also pledged to reign in spending and, in a bid for the youth vote, to end the use of strong-arm collections tactics by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on student loans. Mack didn’t mention it, but I suddenly remembered reading some time ago that ED, along with a lot of other improbable federal agencies, went on a buying spree for ammunition. It raises the question of just what exactly is going on at ED.

In a nod to his base, he added that his “run for Congress will be for the Amish farmer who sits in prison for making an herbal salve, all American victims of gun control, the ranchers who sit in prison for trying to keep their lands, and for the people who just want to be left alone.”

Mack’s CSPOA has been involved for years at the grassroots level promoting the role of the county sheriff as a counterweight to federal overreach and encroachment into states’ rights. According to tracking performed by the Tenth Amendment Center, a number of jurisdictions have entertained or passed “Sheriff’s First” laws as a result of this category of activism.

Mack has also been a leader in the defense of the Second Amendment as well as advocacy for tighter border security.

His candidacy is exactly what one would hope for in the more (“small-L”) libertarian Western states and is worth watching.