For Immediate Release
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Contact: Hannah Goss, hgoss@azdem.org
Senate Showdown: A Messy Week of CrossFit Chat Rooms and Bad Business Records
PHOENIX — Welcome to this week’s edition of the ‘Senate Showdown’ — a weekly roundup of the latest news in Arizona’s “crowded,” “costly,” and “chaotic” GOP Senate primary.
With “no clear frontrunner,” these amateur candidates will be busy duking it out up to Arizona’s August 2nd primary date. Until then, the Arizona Democratic Party’s ‘Showdown’ is here to help you keep track of this race’s breaking news, cringiest tweets, and nastiest doses of infighting.
Here’s what you missed this week:
ONLINE, BUT OFFBASE: This week, the New York Times published a report detailing more hot takes from Blake — this time pulled from a CrossFit chatroom because of course — including his opposition to U.S. involvement in World War II and his belief that Al Qaeda isn’t a threat to America. These are just the latest in a laundry list of bizarre, controversial opinions from Masters — all of which run in opposition to the values Arizonans hold most dear.
LAMON, THE LEMON: Turns out the self-proclaimed “no handouts” businessman is full of…hot air. According to a new piece from the Phoenix New Times, Lamon’s company relied on $3 billion in government aid back in 2011, which they squandered, costing American workers their jobs. Clearly, when life gives you Lamon, run the other way.
MIXED MESSAGES: Despite spending months railing against Arizona’s longstanding, safe, and secure early voting system, now that it’s election season, the GOP field is calling on Arizonans to vote early. As ballots are sent out to voters, Lamon is holding an Early Vote tour, while Masters took to Twitter to encourage supporters to vote early (and maybe even by mail?).
13 HOPING FOR 30: Will anyone ever break 30%? Apparently not as this primary remains “too close to call” according to new polling this week that showed a tight race between Masters, Lamon, and Brnovich with still 35% of the electorate undecided. This poses a big problem for the eventual nominee, who will have only three months to unite a party where a majority of voters chose another candidate.
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER LAMON ATTACK AD: This week, Jim Lamon launched yet another attack ad slamming Blake Masters for his previous calls for “unrestricted immigration” and “open borders.” However damning in an “increasingly nasty” primary, that ad is just a drop in the bucket for the ongoing $15 million Masters vs. Lamon attack ad war that continues to dominate Arizona’s airwaves.
FOUR WEEKS, BUT WHO’S COUNTING: This week marked four weeks until primary day in this “intensely personal” and “increasingly bloody” GOP contest. As Trump looms large and the price tag continues to rise in this wide-open race, we’re expecting this already messy primary to get even messier in the days ahead.
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