On September 10, former President Donald Trump contacted Blake Masters, a previously unsuccessful GOP candidate for the Arizona Senate race.
The New York Times reported that Trump expressed a great deal of concern about Masters’ odds of success in the primary race against Kari Lake.
News recently came out that Masters had intended on running for Senate in the upcoming election and had attained the GOP nomination but ultimately lost to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the pivotal battleground state last year.
The two anonymous sources cited by the Times discussed details of the private conversation between Trump and Masters; one stated that Trump hadn’t firmly ruled out endorsing Masters although he indicated Lake might choose not to run.
The New York Times wrote: “By contrast, so far in this cycle, Mr. Trump…has endorsed only one Republican Senate candidate who isn’t an incumbent…”
This suggests that his hesitance is intentional and serves his own interests as well as those of other Republican leaders who were discouraged by his involvement in 2022 midterm primaries.
In a statement shared by an aide, Ms. Lake declared she was strongly considering entering the race and would make her final decision within the coming weeks while also emphasizing her loyalty to former President Trump if elected to Senate.
Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County is already part of this race however, according to someone close to Masters, he believes there should be a “proven ability” when it comes to fundraising and campaigning–and if no such candidate appears willing or able then he will consider running himself.
Evidently, Mr. Trump has long been skeptical about Masters’ potential success even prior to their weekend conversation.
According to two people familiar with the conversations with him, Trump described him as a “bad candidate” during 2022 election season.
