For Immediate Release
Monday, September 19, 2022
Contact: Hannah Goss, hgoss@azdem.org

IN THE NEWS: “Tucson Vets Call GOP Senate Candidate Masters’ Comments on Military ‘Disgraceful Rhetoric’ & ‘Disqualifying’”
PHOENIX — Last week, in response to new reports that Blake Masters repeatedly attacked America’s military and called U.S. servicemembers “totally incompetent” and “rotten,” Tucson-area veterans stood together to condemn the Republican Senate nominee, calling his comments “disgraceful” and “disqualifying.”

At the event, the group of United States Marine, Army, Navy, and Air Force veterans pointed out that Masters’ comments were especially insulting to the nearly 500,000 veterans who call Arizona home, since he has no record of military service.

See below for key press clips from the event:

Arizona Mirror: Tucson vets slam U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters

• A group of Tucson veterans fired back at Blake Masters’ incendiary comments on the military this week, saying he isn’t a fit representative for the more than half a million veterans in the state.
• “A man like Blake Masters, who has no respect for our service – he has no business representing us anywhere, let alone at the U.S. Senate,” said Air Force veteran Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh…
• Masters has several times called for a wholesale firing of military leaders since he began campaigning last year. In November, Masters released a campaign video on Twitter calling military leaders “incompetent”…
• Don Womack, a former Marine and Vietnam War veteran, said he was in disbelief after hearing the comments. They amount to insults against the rank and file, Womack said, and are especially offensive given Masters himself has never served.
• For Sue Ritz, a retired National Guard Master Sergeant with 24 years of service under her belt, the contrast between Masters and the previous men who held the seat he’s vying for is stark. Masters is running against incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, who flew combat missions in the Gulf War, to fill an office previously held by the late Sen. John McCain, who was a naval officer and a prisoner of war for five years during the Vietnam War.

Tucson Sentinel: Tucson vets call GOP Senate candidate Masters’ comments on military ‘disgraceful rhetoric’ & ‘disqualifying’

• [Masters] has become haunted by comments he’s made over the years…This includes a statement Masters released on Twitter in November, when he called top generals “woke corporate bozos.” Along with the statement, Masters released a video where he argued the nation’s military leadership is “woke” and “totally incompetent.”
• Thursday, with the Pima County Courthouse as a backdrop, Sylvia Gonzalez Andersh, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, called Masters’ comments “disgraceful rhetoric.”
• “When Masters calls our military incompetent, it degrades a half-million veterans,” along with the tens of thousands of active duty military members who live in Arizona, she said. “And, that’s big talk for a guy who never served anybody but himself,” Andersh said.
• Don Womack, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War, argued Masters “doesn’t care that I, like countless Americans before me, put everything on the line to defend our nation. To protect our freedoms. To keep us safe.” Womack said Masters’ comments were “despicable” and “disqualifying.”
• “But listening to a guy like Blake Masters insult our military, while running against Mark Kelly, a Navy combat pilot, for the seat once occupied by the great Senator John McCain, well that’s an insult to everyone,” Ritz said.

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