Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, is leaning toward challenging Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022 after initially moving toward a run for governor.
Brnovich, 54, has won two statewide elections in Arizona, which means he has survived two Republican primaries — including one since former President Donald Trump came to dominate the party. The attorney general’s supporters believe those results are proof he can attract support from disparate wings of the GOP and make him the ideal candidate to run against Kelly in the general election.
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“The attorney general is strongly considering a run for U.S. Senate and is being asked by folks inside and outside of Arizona to consider a campaign,” a Republican operative in the state familiar with Brnovich’s plans confirmed Monday.
Kelly is the husband of gun-control advocate and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He 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. Kelly, running for a full term in 2022, raised $4.4 million for that effort during the first quarter. The Democrat is a top Republican target in the midterm elections, with GOP candidates emerging.
One potential contender is Blake Masters, A Republican who works for venture capitalist and wealthy GOP donor Peter Thiel.
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 on a Senate bid, sources speculate Thiel might pour millions of his own money into a super PAC to boost his campaign — the same way he did for Republican J.D. Vance, a close associate poised to run for Senate in Ohio.
Other Republicans viewed as potential Senate candidates include Christopher 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, term-limited in 2022, continues to wave off the encouragement from fellow Republicans to mount a Senate campaign. The GOP is looking to reclaim power in a 50-50 Senate controlled by the Democrats through Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote.
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Arizona has matured as a bona fide swing state. Ducey was easily reelected in 2018, and Republicans hold majorities in both houses of the Legislature. But President Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump there last year, adding to Democratic victories in the two most recent Senate races — in 2018 and 2020. Until success in those three contests, the Democrats had not won federal office in the state since the 1990s.
