Blake Masters, a protégé of billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, gained Arizona’s Republican nomination for US Senate on Tuesday night time, Related Press and New York Instances report.
Masters’ victory over photo voltaic vitality govt Jim Lamon installs the Trump-backed candidate because the GOP’s decide to tackle former NASA astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D) this fall. Arizona is without doubt one of the few races that would resolve which occasion controls the Senate in November.
Earlier than the Masters marketing campaign was introduced final summer time, Political reported that controversial tech investor Thiel has funneled thousands and thousands into the brand new Saving Arizona PAC in anticipation of his pupil’s Senate race. Thiel donated no less than $15 million to the PAC on Election Day, in response to marketing campaign finance data.
A lot of the PAC’s funding went to a wave of destructive advertisements attacking Lamon and Legal professional Common opponent Mark Brnovich, who has drawn criticism from Trump for not doing sufficient to analyze false allegations of voter fraud in Arizona. On Monday, Brnovich launched a report figuring out that his workplace discovered no proof of widespread voter fraud in 2020.
With Masters’ victory on Tuesday, each of Thiel’s favourite Republican Senate candidates efficiently defeated their major challengers this cycle. JD Vance, a longtime pal of Thiel and Hillbilly Elegy creator, gained Ohio’s Republican Senate major final Could. Thiel has invested $15 million in a pro-Vance tremendous PAC over the previous yr. If Masters and Vance win the November normal election, they might convey newly tech-inspired ideologies to the Senate, each strongly impressed by Thiel and supported by Trump.
