For Immediate Release
Monday, August 1, 2022
Contact: Hannah Goss, hgoss@azdem.org
ONE DAY OUT: No Matter Who Wins the #AZSen Primary, the AZ GOP Loses
PHOENIX — After more than a year of this “bitter” GOP Senate “primary fight,” Arizona Republicans are just one day away from selecting their nominee. To mark the occasion, we put together a highlight reel from their final debate, highlighting the “C-list” candidates — apart from Brnovich who didn’t even show up — who have made this “intensely personal” and “nasty” contest, in a word, “combustible.”
Months of primary chaos featuring embarrassing fundraising hauls, “heated” debates, and a multi-million dollar intra-primary attack ad war ushered in a storm of negative stories highlighting just how unfit these “decidedly weak” candidates are to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate.
To get to know them, their vulnerabilities, and their out of touch positions, see below for a rundown of the key stories you might have missed:
Blake Masters is a billionaire-backed California tech bro with dangerous and divisive opinions who supports banning abortion and privatizing Social Security.
- HuffPost: GOP Senate Candidate Blake Masters Embraces National Abortion Ban. “Masters chided his fellow Republicans who won’t back a national abortion ban.”
- Business Insider: A Trump-backed Arizona Senate candidate suggests he wants to privatize Social Security. “We got to cut the knot at some point though because I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to receive Social Security,” GOP Senate primary candidate Blake Masters said.”
- NBC News: Gender pay gap is just a ‘left-wing narrative,’ Arizona Senate candidate said. “Masters disput[es] the existence of a gender pay gap while insisting that men earn more because they do the “risky” and “most dangerous jobs.”
- Daily Beast: Blake Masters Blames Gun Violence on ‘Black People, Frankly.’ “Blake Masters acknowledges that the United States has a gun violence problem. But he also has a theory about why there’s a problem—it’s “Black people, frankly.”
- New York Times: The Strident Writings of a Young Blake Masters Dog His Senate Run. “Blake Masters…has been dogged by a trail of youthful writings in which he lamented the entry of the United States into the First and Second World Wars, approvingly quoted a Nazi war criminal.”
Jim Lamon is an out-of-touch self-funder who has spent nearly $10 million on Arizona airwaves to hide the fact that he supports dangerous policies that would hurt Arizonans.
- Arizona Republic: What Arizona’s US Senate candidates are saying about abortion rights. “Lamon has supported a ban on abortion even in cases of rape or incest.”
- Arizona Republic: Here’s where Arizona’s US Senate candidates stand on the future of Social Security. “‘Entitlements — ‘Oh Jim, you’re going to take those?’ You’re damn right, because that’s where the money is,’ he said.”
- Phoenix New Times: ‘No Handouts’ Jim Lamon Defends Accepting Billions in Federal Help at Former Solar Venture. “Despite billions of dollars in federal help throughout his career in the solar energy sector, U.S. Senate hopeful Jim Lamon insists government should “get the hell out of the way” of American businesses.”
- Arizona Republic: Senate hopeful Jim Lamon rips Capitol Hill spending, but his company got COVID-19 relief. “But records show his own company, Depcom Power, received $2.6 million in relief last year from the Paycheck Protection Program.”
- Arizona Republic: Republican Senate candidate Jim Lamon’s lame excuse for false elector claim. “Lamon tried to play down the fact that he and 10 other Arizona Republicans…falsely claim[ed] to be the “duly elected and qualified electors” from Arizona.”
Mark Brnovich is a career politician known for abusing his office, bending to party pressure, and wasting taxpayer money — all to benefit himself and his career.
- Cronkite News: Brnovich will push to revive century-old abortion ban in Arizona. “The Wednesday announcement, blasted as “cruel and callous” by abortion rights groups, is just the latest development in the chaos surrounding abortion law in Arizona.”
- Arizona Republic: Op-Ed: Brnovich should resign if he won’t do his job and defend Arizona’s early voting program. “It’s bad enough that the guy has spent most of the last year turning the Attorney General’s Office into a campaign prop in his bid to land a seat in the U.S. Senate. Now he’s refusing to even do his job.”
- Washington Post: A top GOP prosecutor said Trump lost. Running for Senate, he has a new message. “Critics say Brnovich has caved to promoters of disinformation for political gain in the Republican primary.”
- Arizona Mirror: Brnovich discloses ‘interim’ findings of civil election probe, angering some Republicans. “Under pressure from Trump, the AG announced the status of an investigation that could take many more months to conclude.”
- CBS Phoenix: Arizona Attorney General using consumer fraud funds for politically charged legal fights. “Brnovich’s office has increasingly diverted funds earmarked for consumer protection to pay for legal battles that have nothing to do with consumer fraud.”
###