A Republican who works for venture capitalist Peter Thiel is mulling a campaign for the Senate in Arizona, where the GOP is targeting Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.
Blake Masters is chief operating officer of Thiel Capital, president of the Thiel Foundation, and co-author of Thiel’s book, Zero to One; Notes on Startups or How to Build the Future. Should Masters pull the trigger, sources speculate Thiel might pour millions of his own money into a super PAC to boost his campaign — same as he did for Republican J.D. Vance, a close associate poised to run for Senate in Ohio.
Sources describe Masters, a former assistant United States attorney, as a conservative, “modern Trump Republican,” and say he is close to deciding whether to run for Senate. Thiel, a sought-after Republican donor who writes big checks, was an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump. Vance is running as a Trump Republican, and it would not be surprising if Masters did the same, given his ties to Thiel, who might have two allies running for Senate in 2022.
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Running as a Trump Republican also is likely to be an asset in the Republican primary.
President Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump in Arizona last year, becoming the first Democratic nominee to win the state’s electoral votes in a generation. But the GOP primary electorate has been supportive of Trump, and winning the nomination could be difficult for candidates perceived as adversarial to him personally and his populist agenda. Several Arizona Republicans are currently considering a run for Senate.
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Kelly was elected last November in a special election to fill the remaining two years of the term won by the late Republican Sen. John McCain in 2016. The Democrat, running for a full term in 2022, raised $4.4 million for that effort during the first quarter. If Masters jumps in and receives the same support from Thiel as did Vance, his Senate campaign could be assisted by a super PAC seeded with $10 million.
Other Republicans viewed as potential Senate candidates include Chris Landau, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico under Trump; lobbyist Karrin Taylor Robson; and Michael McGuire, former adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard. Gov. Doug Ducey, who is term-limited out of office after the 2022 election, continues to wave off the encouragement he is getting from fellow Republicans to mount a Senate campaign.
