Venture capitalist-turned-upstart Senate candidate Blake Masters handily won the Arizona Republican primary on Tuesday, securing another victory for candidates backed by former President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Peter Thiel.
Masters, a 35-year-old bitcoin hawk with no political experience, turned a corner with Trump’s late support, and then failed for months Attract swing state conservatives with a steady stream of radicals and radicals sometimes dystopian Right-wing rhetoric abounds anti-immigration and racist tropes.
In the end, the Masters outscored runner-up Arizona energy mogul Jim Ramon. The Masters will now face incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in the general election.
Arizona’s game didn’t show a clear leader for months, but after escalating his election denialism The Masters soared to gain Trump’s support in June.For the first time, he was in a double digit lead.
By contrast, JD Vance — another Trump-Till pick — claimed less than a third of Ohio Republicans in May. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Senate candidate who received Thiel’s money and ambiguous support from Trump, also won Tuesday night. Republican Senate nomination, although Trump is unclear who he’s actually backing in the race.
Masters grew up in Arizona and recently returned to the state after years in the Bay Area, where he worked under Thiel’s wing as chief operating officer of Thiel Capital. He entered the campaign with relatively low profile, especially compared to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Trump’s nemesis. But Masters used a native advertising approach and quickly began to accumulate Earned Media as a polarizing provocateur.
However, his success took many by surprise. At first, the outsider platform of the Masters seemed like a good fit for the Arizonans.He relies heavily on abstraction “New Right” Political Theory, anti-immigration Fear Bait, Long Form Podcast interviewand niche, largely untested policy proposals (such as Bitcoin’s “Strategic Reserve”) — an odd match with the image of the typical swing state voter.
Still, thanks in large part to Trump, tech investors were able to lock in enough votes to offset, or possibly win, his toughest competition: Arizona has a large number of suburban moderates and retirees.
And Masters — a 30-something Bitcoin millionaire and Silicon Valley transplant dogged by allegations of racism, corporate hypocrisy and technocratic nepotism throughout the campaign, and implicit anti-Semitism— For the most important demographic, these voters seem unlikely to be standard-bearers, and will only become more discerning as the general election approaches. There, Masters must overcome one of Kelly’s popular Democratic moderates, an effort that could force Masters to soften his rhetoric.
If he wants to energize the grassroots, he has to balance that with the Trump brand, because if fundraising is the measure of enthusiasm, Masters has a steep mountain to climb. Almost all of his financial resources come from a very different group from his campaign — a super PAC fueled largely by Thiel’s massive $15 million investment. Most of the other high-profile donations from super PACs have come from tech and financial sector executives, most of whom have some connection to the crypto world.
But Arizonans didn’t open their wallets at all. According to FEC data, exactly four of the super PAC’s more than 50 donors are from Arizona. More than 90 percent of his campaign’s $5 million came from out-of-state, with Californians making up about a fifth. In fact, Masters has funded his campaign more than an Arizona citizen — his $680,000 personal loan is about $200,000 more than his total in-state donations. His latest loan in July — more than four months after he claimed to have resigned from Thiel’s firm — still lists his employer as Thiel Capital.
But Masters gets a ton of free airtime from another powerful ally — the most influential media figure in conservative politics, Fox News entertainer Tucker Carlson.The late-night host quickly recognized a peer in the Masters nationalist agenda, offering Full support and appeared on his show many times, Most concerned Shown in Cable News History. (By contrast, Brnovich was supported by Carlson’s late-night colleague Sean Hannity.)
but the same nationalist rhetoric Attracted the Carlson crowd —high-pitched Conspiracy theories with false ‘great alternatives’ espoused by white supremacists – attracting more controversial supporters, including neo-nazi publications daily storm.
Anglin gave the masters his “Strong Endorsement” In June, after a viral incident at a campaign event for the Masters Appears to grab a 73-year-old protester by the neck and push him out of the room. Last month, Master be rejected Anglin backed, saying he had “never” heard of Anglin and dismissed news reports of the endorsement as “part of an effort to smear anyone who believes in common sense on border security as some kind of ‘Nazi’.”
Ultimately, Masters’ knowledge of the media overcame substantial support from immigration officials for his arch-rival Ramon, who was enlisted by former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Commissioner and former Commissioner’s endorsement of the Border Patrol.
The Masters is endorsed by television officials such as Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) and Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO).
But despite his positions on immigration, guns, abortion and same-sex marriage, the tech entrepreneur has production “Guaranteed” he will beat former Navy pilot and astronaut Kelly by “five points”.
“‘Oh, I’m an astronaut. You hear I am an astronaut? ‘” Masters said at an event in April, report Mother Jones. “‘You know, when I’m on the space station, I look at that big blue ball and I realize we’re all in this together.’ It’s like, ‘Shut up, Mark.'”
But Masters also has to overcome his own unfounded theory that Democrats are using immigration policy to pile up election decks.
“Clearly the Democrats want to change the demographics of our country,” he said Say In an April podcast interview. “They want to bring in a whole new electorate. Then they call you racist and bigoted.”
