Following his defeat in 2022, hard-line conservative Blake Masters is now reportedly running for the Arizona Senate seat in 2024.
According to sources, Masters plans to launch his candidacy in the upcoming weeks, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal. His entrance will intensify the already heated and crowded race for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) seat.
One of the six presidential swing states that will have a significant impact on the outcome of the election in November is Arizona, which President Joe Biden narrowly won by just over 10,000 votes in 2020.
Republicans would potentially have a chance to make up for their defeats in the 2022 midterm elections and possibly take control of the Senate by winning Sinema’s seat, which is seen as a toss-up.
Sinema hasn’t yet announced whether she will attempt to seek office again.
A Republican entry may make the election into a high-stakes three-way contest because Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is also planning on competing for Sinema’s seat.
So far, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is the only candidate in the GOP primary to have officially started a campaign to become the Republican nominee.
Most intriguingly perhaps, Masters’ entry into the campaign would put him up against firebrand conservative Kari Lake, a past candidate for governor who lost to current Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) in 2022.
Without officially beginning a campaign, Lake has become the front-runner for the Republican Arizona Senate primary.
Lake indicated that she would decide whether to run for the Senate by the end of 2023, with an announcement anticipated in the fall.
This raises the potential that Masters and Lake could end up announcing their dueling bids at the same time, putting them at odds in what may be a bitterly contensted primary.
So far, establishment Arizona Republicans have been hesitant to choose Lake as their party’s senatorial candidate, despite her popularity among hard-line conservatives, due to her disastrous performance in 2022.
Masters and Lake both based their 2022 platforms on being firmly right wing and receiving support from former President Donald Trump.
In the midterm elections, the majority of the candidates Trump backed won the GOP primary but fell to Democrats in the general election.
Lake refuses to accept her defeat as governor and maintains that election fraud cost her the 2022 election, a strategy employed frequently by Trump in regards to his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Masters contested the 2020 election results but ultimately acknowledged his defeat in the 2022 midterms.
In addition, he has already declared his support for Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.
[READ MORE: Rep. Cori Bush May Have Committed Possible Criminal Violation]
