Alabama native announces candidacy as first Republican in Arizona’s race for U.S. Senate
Energy Executive Jim Lamon’s candidacy marks the first Republican to jump into the race to become Arizona’s next Senator in 2022. He is gearing up to restore the GOP’s Senate majority by defeating incumbent Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a Democrat and former NASA astronaut. Lamon jumps into the race with a background as the founder and CEO of Scottsdale-based firm DEPCOM Power. Launched in 2013, the company is responsible for the engineering, construction, and operation of one gigawatt (GW) of utility solar plants for companies stretching from Oregon to Mississippi to North Carolina. DEPCOM Power was situated at number five on the 2018 Inc. 5,000 list of fastest-growing private companies and, in December 2018, made the Top 20 Best Places to work in Phoenix list. Raised on a family farm in Alabama, Lamon recounted his early experiences growing up in the state, “Everybody has their responsibilities on a family farm, and I learned a lot about the importance of that kind of regimen,” he says. “My parents came from nothing. Dad grew up with no electricity or indoor plumbing. He then worked three jobs, getting a college education at night, with my mom right there by his side, working herself and raising two kids.” “Our home, as well as those of my aunts and uncles who lived nearby, were built by the families with love and help from all the cousins, uncles, and aunts. There’s a great photo of me at seven years old, up on the roof laying tiles. It’s things you learn early on a farm.” Lamon studied civil engineering and played college football at the University of Alabama under the direction of legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. Formally ranked by ESPN as America’s greatest college football coach, Coach Bryant’s influence and teachings continue to guide Lamon. Following his time in Alabama, Lamon served as an engineer airborne officer for the U.S. Army, including a deployment in pre-unification Germany. “Serving in Germany during the Cold War showed me that American freedom is so powerful, people would risk their lives to escape communism,” he shares in a campaign announcement video depicting scenes of the historic fall of the Berlin wall, a barrier between the communist East and free West. Lamon has touched on familiar Republican themes as he has publicly criticized the “political and media elites” who he expressed have “the power to divide us and distract us, to amplify the angry, the lies, and suppress the reasonable.” His official campaign website states, “It’s time to end ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ in Washington,” with Lamon using his considerable experience in the power industry to drive home a “power to the people” message in his campaign announcement video. Lamon’s campaign will be centered around putting America First, securing the Border, and streamlining the Federal Government.
