Trump endorses Blake Masters in Arizona Senate race

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Former president Donald Trump announced his endorsement of venture capitalist Blake Masters in Arizona’s Senate race, criticising the state’s Republican attorney general in the process.

Mr Masters was the president of a nonprofit founded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who also backed JD Vance, Mr Trump’s preferred Senate candidate in Ohio. Mr Trump praised Mr Masters’ business acumen in his statement on Thursday.

“Blake Masters is one of the most successful businessmen and investors in the Country, having led a multibillion-dollar firm that invests in new technology and many other emerging companies,” Mr Trump said. “In addition, he runs a nonprofit foundation that promotes science and innovation. In other words, he is a great modern-day thinker!”

Arizona will hold its Senate primary on 2 August. Mr Masters will be running against Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to see who will challenge incumbent Senator Mark Kelly. Mr Kelly won a special election in 2020 to fill out the rest of the term of the late Senator John McCain, who died in 2018.

Mr Trump also criticised attorney general Mark Brnovich, who is also running for Senate for not pushing the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen after President Joe Biden won the state.

“He is the current Arizona Attorney General, and while he understands what took place in the 2020 Presidential Election, and that it was Rigged and Stolen, he only views it as something he would like not to see happen again,” he said in the statement. Mr Trump noted how the Arizona Senate turned in an audit report claiming there was widespread fraud but that Mr Brnovich didn’t take any additional action.

“He didn’t want to make ‘waves,’” Mr Trump said in his statement. “Brnovich, therefore, does not support clean and fair elections, or law and order, and could not properly represent the people of Arizona in the United States Senate.”

Mr Trump had previously expressed his dissatisfaction with Arizona’s Governor Doug Ducey for not pushing the lies about the election. The governor later decided against running for Senate.