Blake Masters running for Arizona House seat

Former Republican Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters announced Thursday that he will run for a Phoenix-area House seat in 2024, ending speculation that he would attempt another Senate bid.

Masters said he will run in Arizona’s 8th District, aiming to replace Rep. Debbie Lesko (R), who announced last week that she would not run for reelection.

“I’m running for Congress, to fight for Arizona’s 8th,” Masters said on X, formerly Twitter. “Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona’s water future. We need to fight for our families.”

Masters previously attempted to take Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) seat in 2022, but fell short. It was speculated that he would try in 2024 for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat and create a tightly contested primary against former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

Former Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh has already declared his candidacy for the 8th District seat. Masters, Lake and Hamadeh all campaigned together during the 2022 election and each embraced 2020 election denial rhetoric.

Lake — who is running for Sinema’s seat — has already sided with Hamadeh, endorsing him right after his campaign announcement.

Masters kept himself close to former President Trump in his 2022 Senate campaign; he was endorsed by Trump and frequently repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen or improperly decided.

He eventually backed off those claims slightly, admitting toward the end of the race that Biden rightfully won the 2020 election, garnering criticism from Trump.

But his Senate campaign was also marred by poor fundraising, exacerbated by a feud between the candidate and the Senate Leadership Fund. Masters only took in $15.6 million, compared to Kelly’s $92.7 million haul, over the course of the race, according to federal campaign finance data.

While Masters and Hamadeh will likely have a contested primary for the seat, the general election is not expected to be closely competitive; Lesko ran unopposed in 2022 and won election in 2020 by a wide margin.