Abe Hamadeh called on Blake Masters this week to drop out of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District (CD8) race due to “intentionally misleading voters” about raising $1.3 million.
“I’m officially calling on Blake Masters to drop out of this race,” Hamadeh (pictured above, left) posted on X. “Blake needs to stop paying his Nikki Haley consultants on a losing endeavor, and stay in his hometown of Tucson to rally behind President Trump this November.”
I’m officially calling on Blake Masters to drop out of this race. Blake needs to stop paying his Nikki Haley consultants on a losing endeavor, and stay in his hometown of Tucson to rally behind President Trump this November. 👇 pic.twitter.com/YVT2gXqIy3
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) February 1, 2024
Hamadeh’s press release cited a Fox News article that said Masters (pictured above, right) raised “an eye-popping amount,” which Masters said came from “so many great people.” However, Hamadeh said these were “fake fundraising numbers,” since only $75,223.22 came from donors, “most of which is not even able to be spent in the primary election per FEC regulations.” Analyzing Masters’ campaign finance reports, Hamadeh determined that $1 million “came from his personal venture capitalist bank account,” and $88,000 came from Masters Victory Committee, the PAC formed for his failed Senate bid.
Hamadeh also took issue with Masters implying that former President Donald Trump had endorsed him. An article in the Arizona Globe said, “[O]n Blake Masters’ campaign website and on his campaign’s YouTube page, the first image one sees is a photo of Blake with the former president. The campaign is clearly hoping to create a linkage in voters’ minds. These are holdover images from Blake’s unsuccessful Senate run in 2022.”
Trump endorsed Hamadeh in the race; he previously endorsed Masters in 2022 when he was running for U.S. Senate, as well as Hamadeh when Hamadeh was running for attorney general. The two were frequently seen together as a team along with Kari Lake running for governor and Mark Finchem running for secretary of state, but the cordial relationship collapsed after the election, with Lake endorsing Hamadeh in the congressional race.
Unlike Hamadeh, Lake, and Finchem, Masters did not challenge his 2022 election loss and has remained quiet about whether there was election fraud in the 2022 election.
Hamadeh has repeatedly pointed out that Masters hired consultants for his campaign who worked for presidential candidate Nikki Haley, insinuating that they are not MAGA. Masters’ campaign consultant is Hooff Cooksey of Look Ahead Strategies, who, in addition to working for Haley, also worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which was recently accused of being behind attempts to pay Lake to stay out of politics for two years. Cooksey previously served as campaign manager for Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who endorsed Ron DeSantis.
Hamadeh has also called out Masters for running in CD8 since Masters is from Tucson. Hamadeh grew up in CD8 but moved to Scottsdale as an adult. Since entering the race, he has moved back into CD8.
Other candidates in the race include State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale), who was endorsed by Trump previously when he ran for State Senate, former Representative Trent Franks, and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Glendale). Insiders told The Arizona Sun Times that Toma’s backers prefer multiple MAGA candidates in the race so they split the MAGA vote, making it easier for him to win. Hamadeh said Toma is polling at only 3 percent in the primary.
A poll conducted in December 2023 by National Public Affairs found that Hamadeh is leading with 45 percent, Masters at 10 percent, Toma and Franks tied at 7 percent, and Kern at 2 percent. Another 30 percent is undecided. However, the same poll found that if voters are unaware that Hamadeh has Trump’s endorsement, his lead evaporates by 8 points.
Political consultant and Newsmax contributor Bryan Leib observed that the district has a 10-point Republican voter registration advantage. In their 2022 races, Hamadeh won the district by 12 percent, whereas Masters won it by only 6.5 percent.
Hamadeh has raised a similar amount to Masters, and his brother donated $1 million to his campaign. The seat is open due to incumbent Representative Debbie Lesko choosing not to run for reelection. Hamadeh is still challenging his loss by 280 votes in the attorney general’s race.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Abe Hamedeh” and “Blake Masters” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
