There is only one candidate in the entire country running for county office who has out-raised 12 of the 2016 major party candidates for president — and that candidate stands for law and order.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio became a household name for exposing the dangerous, even lethal, side of unchecked illegal immigration on the southern border and now Americans are rallying to his side.

“Boy they’re after me from Washington, the president, after a sheriff, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

The longtime sheriff in the Phoenix metropolitan area, facing his fiercest reelection challenge yet, has raised nearly $10 million dollars for his campaign, mostly in small donations.

Arpaio has been a favorite target of the open borders crowd since he first emerged on the national stage.

“I’m just trying to do my job,” Arpaio said Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” “Boy they’re after me from Washington, the president, after a sheriff, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

Arpaio referred to the years-long, and so-far unsuccessful, crusade waged by President Obama’s Justice Department trying to link Sheriff Joe’s police work, that cracks down on criminal aliens, to racial profiling.

With no success in smearing the law and order champion with false accusations of wrongdoing, Democrats have turned to trying to defeat Arpaio in his re-election bid.

“They’re gonna take shots at me from every direction,” Arpaio said, “I have to keep fighting … not gonna surrender to all these critics.”

[lz_table title=”2016 Presidential Candidates Out-Raised by Sheriff Joe” source=”The New York Times”]Candidate,Raised
|Sheriff Joe,$9.9 million
Scott Walker,$8.5 million
Chris Christie,$8.5 million
Martin O’Malley,$6.3 million
Lindsey Graham,$5.8 million
Mike Huckabee,$4.3 million
Rick Perry,$1.4 million
Bobby Jindal,$1.4 million
Rick Santorum,$1.4 million
Jim Webb,$0.8 million
Jim Gilmore,$0.4 million
Lincoln Chafee,$0.4 million
George Pataki,<$0.1 million
[/lz_table]

In response, Americans nationwide have rallied to Sheriff Joe’s side. Out of the $9.9 million Arpaio has raised, 83 percent of the donations over $50 were from out of state. Arizona was still the single largest source of contributions at 17 percent. One report indicated that nearly 75 percent of the donations came from small donations from retirees, veterans, self employed business operators, and law enforcement. In other words — they came from the very best among us, the ones with most to lose if Sheriff Joe is defeated by the open borders agenda.

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Arpaio’s campaign coffers have steadily increased alongside his enemies’ efforts to bring him down.

In 2008, Arpaio raised only $610,000 for his re-election effort. That number skyrocketed to $8.2 million in 2012.

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To many Americans, the 84-year-old sheriff represents one of the few stalwarts against the tide of open borders and illegal immigration. The fact that he has garnered so much national support speaks to the desire for proper border control.

“He is the guy doing the job,” said former correctional supervisor Gary Budway of Venice, Florida, to AZ Central. “He’s still going, fighting for the cause.”

Thomas Smith gave Arpaio $60 due to his belief that the Obama administration is treating him unfairly.

“The people who were complaining about him were complaining because he was doing the right thing. He is just an honest cop. He isn’t politically correct,” Smith told AZ Central.

Whatever befalls Joe Arpaio during his re-election campaign or his fight against an increasingly pervasive and overextending federal government, one can be certain America’s law and order sheriff isn’t going down without a fight and isn’t going down alone.