Former Ariz. Senate Candidate Blake Masters Announces Congressional Run

Facts

• Conservative Republican Blake Masters, who lost Arizona’s midterm election to Sen. Mark Kelly last year, announced his candidacy for the state’s 8th Congressional District on Thursday.¹
• Masters joins a crowded field of six other Republicans who are vying to replace Rep. Debbie Lesko, who announced last week that she will not run for reelection in the heavily conservative district.²
• Reports swirled that Masters was considering another run for Senate, this time challenging independent incumbent Kyrsten Sinema, but he instead chose a House run. Masters earned a coveted endorsement of former Pres. Donald Trump in 2022 and narrowly lost to Kelly in one of the most expensive senate elections in history.³
• Masters reportedly opted against running for Senate after 2022’s GOP Gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake announced her candidacy to unseat Sinema. Despite their seemingly friendly relationship, Lake opted to endorse former Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh over Masters; while the race between Masters and Hamadeh will be close, the winner will likely win the Maricopa County seat.⁴
• A venture capitalist, Masters, 37, worked for billionaire Peter Thiel, running the Thiel Foundation and serving as the COO at Thiel Capital. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who worked at Thiel’s Mithril Capital, endorsed Masters as a “conservative fighter we need in the House.”⁵
• In a social media post, Masters wrote, “Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona's water future. We need to fight for our families,” Since entering the political scene, Masters has been an open supporter of Trump’s America First-style agenda.³

Sources: ¹NBC, ²Associated Press, ³The Arizona Republic, ⁴Newsmax and ⁵Washington Examiner.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by American Conservative. Blake Masters is a rising young star in the Republican Party, and Arizona conservatives want him to be their voice in Congress after his first attempt at securing a Senate seat. A stalwart defender of America First ideals, Masters has the intelligence and business background to be an effective legislator and conservative fighter. Masters is already leading in early polls, and he is the perfect candidate to revitalize the GOP.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by The Daily Beast. The Arizona GOP has troubling far-right components, and the emerging war between Kari Lake and Blake Masters shows its internal dysfunction. Despite both being extreme MAGA candidates, Lake and Masters are battling over supremacy in the state GOP even though they aren't even running for the same office. While she was a failed candidate, Lake is popular among Republicans, and her endorsement could propel Abe Hamadeh over the top. Either way, the MAGA movement is crumbling from within.

Predictions