<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655357838854,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016c-7763-d473-a96f-77eb53420000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655357838854,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016c-7763-d473-a96f-77eb53420000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55321047", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1033434"} }); ","_id":"00000181-6b03-d082-a1ad-7bfbcfef0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedBusinessman Jim Lamon has lost the endorsement of Trump ally Ric Grenell in Arizona’s GOP Senate primary after his campaign spent weeks railing against the Big Tech ties of his rival.
Grenell is friendly with tech billionaire Peter Thiel, a GOP megadonor who has poured more than $13 million into the race supporting his protege, Blake Masters. Thiel is closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Masters in the race earlier this month.
Lamon called Trump’s endorsement a mistake at the time and doubted that “Arizonans will nominate someone whose candidacy is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Big Tech, California billionaire.” Weeks earlier, Lamon released an ad labeling Masters the “puppet of California Big Tech.”
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Grenell, who served as Trump’s acting director of national intelligence, reportedly contacted the Lamon campaign in May to voice his displeasure, a conversation the campaign denies happened.
Grenell went public with his grievances Wednesday, calling Lamon’s campaign “desperate” and accusing him of undermining the conservative movement with his tactics.
“Attacking my friend Peter Thiel is a bad strategy that only helps elect Democrats,” Grenell said in a statement posted to Twitter. “Peter has been a champion of conservative values in Silicon Valley and has never wavered from challenging Big Tech.”
Thiel has donated to Republican candidates across the country, most notably in Ohio, where he invested $13.5 million to help Trump’s preferred Senate candidate, J.D. Vance, win the GOP nomination.
Grenell joined a number of former Trump administration officials in endorsing Lamon well before the former president waded into the Arizona race. Lamon, an energy executive and Army veteran, has the backing of several ex-chiefs of the major immigration enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection. The endorsements could prove helpful in the border state of Arizona.
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Polling shows a three-way race in the Republican primary between Lamon, Masters, and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Masters leads Brnovich by 5 points, according to a Trafalgar Group survey released Monday, with Lamon trailing 12 points behind Masters.
The winner of the Aug. 2 primary will compete against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in November. The seat is viewed as pivotal to Republicans’ chances of taking back their majority in the evenly divided Senate.
