Abe Hamadeh holds a commanding, 23-point lead in the Republican primary race for the election for the House seat being vacated by Representative Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) according to an internal poll published on Wednesday. The pollsters suggest Hamadeh’s early endorsements from former President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake may prove instrumental in securing the support of Arizona Republicans.
The National Public Affairs poll, published by German-owned Politico, found Hamadeh (pictured above), who last ran to become Arizona Attorney General, has the support of 37 percent of Republicans in the district. Former Senate candidate Blake Masters was the only other candidate to reach double digits, polling in second with 14 percent.
Hamadeh and Masters were followed in the polling results by Arizona State House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) at 7 percent, former U.S. Representative Trent Franks at 6 percent, and State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale), who pollsters found had the support of 3 percent of Republicans in the district.
Pollsters included 418 likely Republican primary voters in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District in their survey, which was conducted on December 16 and December 17. National Public Affairs reported a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percent.
The polling company added that, should Masters suspend his campaign, most of his supporters would move to Hamadeh, who would receive an 8-point boost in support.
Additionally, 58 percent of respondents told the pollsters that Trump’s endorsement made them more likely to support Hamadeh, and 54 percent said the same of the endorsement from Lake. Just 19 percent said Trump’s endorsement would make them less likely to vote for Hamadeh, and 23 percent reported the same of Lake’s endorsement.
Pollsters also said that support for Hamadeh increased when respondents were informed of Hamadeh’s endorsements, with Hamadeh surging to 45 percent of support. Masters’ support was reduced to 10 percent.
Citing the polling, former Trump administration National Security Council official Kash Patel called for Republicans to unite around Hamadeh’s campaign to preserve the Republican seat in Congress. “Time to unite,” wrote Patel in a post on Truth Social. He added that Hamadeh “is the choice of MAGA,” and warned other candidates to “get out, before you get blown out.”
“Kash gets it,” wrote Hamadeh in a response posted to X, formerly Twitter.
Kash gets it. pic.twitter.com/XRuLgemWvp
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 21, 2023
Arizona’s 8th Congressional District is considered solidly Republican, and Lesko did not face a Democratic opponent during her 2022 re-election. She won with 197,555 votes out of 204,713 votes cast.
In 2020, the Republican Party held the seat after Lesko defeated Democrat Michael Muscato in a landslide victory, winning by nearly 20 percentage points. Similarly, Trump carried the district by 13 percentage points in 2020 despite losing Arizona by just over 10,000 votes.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Abe Hamadeh” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
