Maricopa County’s ex-sheriff has found a way to unite Trump supporters and Democrats.

On Sunday, the 87-year-old ex-sheriff announced that he’s running to get his old job back.

Arpaio – the guy who had to get a presidential pardon to escape potential prison time – has decided that only he can “Make Maricopa County Safe Again.”

“The last four years have proven to be a time of lost opportunities to continue the kind of tough policing this county needs,” he said in announcing his 2020 run on Sunday afternoon. “Once back in office, I will use my position to restore pride to our law enforcement ranks, not only here, in the fourth-largest county in America, but across the country.”

A win for Trump loyalists and Democrats?

Trump loyalists (who are also Arpaio loyalists) are no doubt thrilled. Arpaio would bring back tough talk and green bologna and pink underwear. He’d bring back inmates in zebra suits, sleeping in tents.

He’d bring back chain gangs and his posse and presumably his immigration patrols – the ones that left his office unable to spare the manpower to investigate sexual assaults against children.

Democrats must be thrilled as well. Arpaio’s candidacy, should he win the GOP nomination, virtually ensures a second term for Sheriff Paul Penzone, the Democrat who beat Arpaio in 2016.

MONTINI:Arpaio can't take a hint (he's running again)

Arpaio was a force of nature when he first ran for office in 1992, promising that he would serve only one term if elected (and to spend that term working to professionalize the office of sheriff by turning it into an appointed post).

He went on to serve six terms, a 24-year run that was nothing short of remarkable.

But Arpaio’s antics began to wear thin as the lawsuits piled up and the political investigations into his enemies petered out.

It's probably a win for the media, too

Over the years, his margin of victory got smaller and smaller until finally in 2012 you needed a microscope to see it. That year, Arpaio eked his way back into office with just 50.66% of the vote.

And that was before MCSO was found to have systematically violated the civil rights of Latinos.

In 2016, he lost, not because Latino voters turned out at the polls to oust him but because a sizable number of Republican voters had had enough, according to an analysis by Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.

Then in 2018, he lost again, coming in third in a three-way Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.

Now he’s back, noting “the many thousands of people across the nation” who have encouraged him to run. And naturally, blaming the media for his losses.

“Sheriff Arpaio and his wife realize that during the past several years, his opponents, activists and political figures on the Left, have utilized slanderous attacks on him through the fake and biased news media to try and keep him from being heard, but these efforts have failed,” his press release says. “However, he expects these attacks will continue in full force, even more so with today’s announcement.”

Me? I’m guessing the media, like Democrats and Trump supporters, will be thrilled that Arpaio is in the race. He is what we used to call good copy.

I don't know if Arpaio can "Make Maricopa County Safe Again". But his decision to run for sheriff virtually ensures it'll be safe for Democrat Paul Penzone.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com.