For Immediate Release
Saturday, June 11, 2022
Contact: Hannah Goss, hgoss@azdem.org
Senate Showdown: ADS ON ADS ON ADS
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 well into the summer, ahead of Arizona’s August 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:
WILL THE REAL BLAKE MASTERS PLEASE STAND UP: Your daily reminder that the internet is forever. On Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel unearthed yet another batch of Blake Masters’ early writings where the now hawkish anti-immigration Republican “called for ‘unrestricted’ immigration while praising drug smugglers as ‘heroes.’” Given how aggressively Lamon’s team jumped on the story, we’re willing to bet we’ll see an ad on Masters’ flip-flop soon…
FACT CHECK: TRUE: After Masters’ super PAC launched an attack ad slamming Jim Lamon for his business dealings with Chinese state-owned companies, the Phoenix New Times’ Elias Weiss dug into Lamon’s background, finding records to support the ad’s claim that Lamon was, in fact, “in bed with Chinese Communists” while running his company, DEPCOM.
RIPLEY’S MASTERS’ BELIEVE IT OR NOT: On Wednesday, CNN’s Alex Rogers and Manu Raju were the first of many to report on Blake Masters’ latest conspiracy theory of the day: The January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol actually may have been a false-flag operation set up by the FBI. However bizarre — and undeniably false — this is just the latest baseless conspiracy theory that Blake has spread.
CLUB FOR GROWTH ENTERS THE CHAT: On Friday, Club for Growth launched their first #AZSen ad buy of the cycle, coming in hot with a nearly $900k buy for their boy Blake Masters. The negative ad introduces Arizonans to “the real Jim Lamon,” slamming Masters’ rival for “stiffing contractors,” donating to Democrats, and dodging taxes. Within hours, Lamon took to Twitter with a video address refuting the ad’s claims, slamming Club for Growth “from the swamp” and their support of “puppet” Blake Masters.
TRUMP CALLED, WILL ANYONE ANSWER: Vanity Fair’s Caleb Ecarma wrote about how Donald Trump’s endorsement only made this “nasty” and “intensely personal” primary messier, dredging up audio of newbie Blake Masters audaciously declaring “John McCain, rest his soul––it’s not his Republican Party in Arizona anymore.” The piece also included an increasingly common impression of Lamon as “arrogant as all hell” with one GOP consultant going on the record to say that he “sounds like he’s running to be the head coach at Alabama, rather than a U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona.” Roll Tide, we guess?
DIM THE LIGHTS, HERE WE GO: The Masters vs. Lamon attack ad war that’s consumed Arizona’s airwaves just got worse. And as the two continue to duke it wherever they can (Ex: “Jim Lamon is obsessed with me.” – Blake Masters on Twitter), we’re counting down the days until the two confront each other IRL. Lucky for us (and you), the field is set to face off at several debates over the next few weeks.
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