Arizona political unknown Blake Masters may not be unknown for long, as a super PAC backing the Republican’s 2022 Senate bid plans a major advertising blitz to boost his name identification and tell his story.
Saving Arizona, seeded with $10 million from venture capitalist and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel, launched about four weeks ago and has yet to air any spots on Masters’s behalf. But the super PAC is charting an advertising campaign that amplifies the first-time candidate’s populist messaging and introduces him to Arizona voters. More than a half-dozen Republicans, four of them formidable, are vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the midterm elections.
Masters is an Arizona native and a Thiel protege. He is the chief operating officer of both Thiel Capital and the Thiel Foundation. Under federal law, Saving Arizona and the Masters campaign cannot coordinate their efforts, nor can they communicate with each other. But Saving Arizona is permitted to accept contributions in unlimited amounts, and the group expects Thiel’s vote of confidence in Masters will attract millions more in donations from GOP financiers.
Sources familiar with the super PAC’s strategy confirmed its plans to the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
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Thiel is a Trump acolyte who also contributed $10 million to a super PAC backing Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio. Masters is running on a message that promotes former President Donald Trump’s populist agenda but deemphasizes his provocative personality. Tactically, that approach appears prudent.
Trump’s agenda has proven popular in public opinion polls, and running on it could appeal to Trump and the Republican base in a state where grassroots conservatives are particularly supportive of the former president. Minimizing Trump’s personal brand could allow Masters to reach voters who were dissatisfied with the 45th president’s behavior, allowing President Joe Biden and Kelly to win the state narrowly in 2020 on the heels of Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s victory two years earlier.
In his introductory video, Masters vows to “put this country first” by, in nonthreatening language, cracking down on illegal immigration, opposing critical race theory, and standing up to large technology firms that have banned some conservatives and Republicans from their online platforms.
Kelly is up again in 2022 after winning a special election last year, allowing him to complete the term won in 2016 by Republican Sen. John McCain, who died in office in August 2018. Masters joins a GOP primary field that includes state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, wealthy businessman Jim Lamon, and Mick McGuire, former adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard.
The Arizona primary is scheduled for August of next year. Meanwhile, Trump, who has yet to endorse a candidate in the Senate primary, is headed to the state Saturday to headline an event promoting “voter integrity.” Democrats there are attempting to frame the Republican contenders as Trump lap dogs who are sticking with the former president, especially on his claims that the 2020 election was stolen, at the expense of local priorities.
“Each and every GOP Senate primary candidate has tailored their campaign towards an audience of one,” Sarah Guggenheimer, Arizona Democratic Party spokeswoman, said in a statement. “The only question that remains is: which candidate will go the farthest to sell out Arizonans to try and earn Trump’s support?”
