Joe Arpaio is a former longtime sheriff in Arizona known for his tough policies against illegal aliens.  Good for him!

Now he is running for the Senate in Arizona.  The loss of his race for re-election as sheriff doesn't seem like a logical stepping stone to run for the U.S. Senate.

Joe Arpaio is 85 years old.  Forgive my age-ism, but the U.S. Senate is a game for the young – for people in their 60s and 70s, not their mid-80s.

Even worse, Arpaio's entering the race looks nearly certain to hand the Senate seat to a RINO, or even worse, to a Democrat.

Before Arpaio's entry, the leading contender was Kelli Ward, a conservative state senator endorsed by Mark Levin who ran against John McCain in the primary and lost.  Ward is now running for the open seat created by Jeff Flake, a seat some might argue is open even while Flake is still in office.

Ward's main opponent in the primary was, before Arpaio entered, Congresswoman Martha McSally, who has an impressive résumé from before she went to Congress, as an Air Force pilot who fought Saudi rules requiring women to wear "traditional attire."

However, McSally's record in the House of Representatives has not been as impressive.  She gets an "F" rating from conservativereview.com.  She voted for the military to admit transvestites; voted against ending Obama's amnesty for illegal aliens; voted to keep John Boehner speaker of the House; voted to give Planned Parenthood a raise; and voted for big, fat spending bills without a penny of cuts.

Before Arpaio entered the race, Ward was leading McSally in the polls, but now Arpaio is splitting the conservative vote, and he is basically tied with McSally, with Ward in third.  If Arpaio wins, the polarizing 85-year-old may hand the seat over to a Democrat.  If he splits the conservative vote with Ward and McSally wins the primary, we will have either a Democrat or a RINO in the Senate.

Arpaio has no business entering the race at his age.  He's just acting as a spoiler who will hand the seat over to a liberal.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.