Arizona Republicans Blake Masters, Kari Lake, State Representative Mark Finchem and Abraham Hamadeh / Gage Skidmore
Former President Donald Trump's handpicked candidates all won Republican primaries in Arizona in 2022 -- and then all went down in defeat to Democratic opponents.
Now Politico reports that Arizona Republicans fear that these same candidates could run again in 2024 for a Senate seat where incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) appears vulnerable.
The publication's sources indicate that Blake Masters, who reportedly had some of the worst focus group results of any candidate ever, is weighing another run for Senate in 2024, despite losing handily to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) last year.
Not to be outdone, failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is still trying to get a court to overturn her loss to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, is also apparently weighing a run.
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Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told Politico that both candidates' losses showed the limits of running on false claims about the 2020 election being stolen from former President Donald Trump.
"Any candidate in ’24 that has, as their principal campaign theme, a stolen election, is probably going to have the same issues that some of the ’22 candidates had," he said.
Arizona GOP strategist Barrett Marson, meanwhile, said that Trump-backed loser candidates frequently ignore the "bread-and-butter issues that Arizonans care about."
"Kari Lake is not governor," he said bluntly. "Blake Masters is not senator. Republicans have to get back to basics."
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