For Immediate Release
Monday, July 18, 2022
Contact: Hannah Goss, hgoss@azdem.org
Senate Showdown: A Week of Wimpy Fundraising, Messy Debates, and Lying Candidates
PHOENIX — Welcome to the latest 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 last week:
MONEY MONEY MONEY: Except, this field barely has any…Friday was the FEC filing deadline for the second quarter of 2022, and this “decidedly weak” field posted some incredibly weak fundraising hauls. Blake Masters took in $827k. Jim Lamon raised $215k from individuals not named Jim Lamon, and Mark Bnovich barely broke $500k.
A ”BULLSHIT” SHOW: On Wednesday night, the field brought the ongoing Masters vs. Lamon attack ad war to life, duking it out at the first televised GOP Senate primary debate. On stage, the rivals engaged on “personal terms”: Lamon slammed Masters for being “owned” by billionaire benefactor Peter Thiel and Masters mocked Lamon’s Alabama accent, pointing out his virtually nonexistent Arizona ties. Poor Mick McGuire was stuck in the middle of the mess, waiting patiently for his turn to speak.
LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH: Both Lamon and Masters used their time on the debate stage to squash their already minimal credibility with Arizona voters, outright lying about their plans to dismantle Social Security. ICYMI, Masters spent last month’s debate presenting his plan for privatizing, saying we need to “cut the knot.” Lamon is even bolder, advertising his plan to privatize the program and raise the retirement age in black and white on his campaign website.
“TRUMP MADE A MISTAKE”: Jim Lamon cut a new attack ad last week, this time slamming Trump for endorsing his rival. To be fair, it makes sense why Lamon was so hurt. After all, he did go all-in for the former president and his baseless election lies, contributing a boatload of cash to the audit and signing his name as one of Arizona’s fake electors. Still, we wonder how long it’ll take for Trump to give Lamon the Brno treatment, publicly bullying him for all to see.
THE CIRCUS IS STILL COMING, JUST DELAYED: Donald Trump has loomed large over this GOP primary for over a year now, and he’s bringing the clown show to Arizona this Friday, July 22 for a rally to boost his boy Blake. Ever since the former president endorsed the Thielian acolyte, this messy primary has only gotten messier, triggering an all-out attack ad war and non-stop infighting among the candidates.
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