Kari Lake called her potential Republican primary challenger Blake Masters over the weekend for an "intense" discussion of his Senate ambitions, according to sources.
Neither candidate -- who each lost Republican campaigns last year in Arizona -- have officially entered the race for the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), but Lake called Masters on Saturday around 11 p.m. EST to discuss new reporting on his intentions that broke earlier in the day, four sources familiar with the conversation told The Daily Beast.
"Sources familiar with the conversation said the call lasted about 10 minutes, describing the discussion as 'intense,' 'paranoid' and 'erratic,'" the website reported.
The New York Times had reported earlier Saturday that Donald Trump had spoken to Masters about his plans, and The Daily Beast published a story about two hours before Lake called suggesting that Masters was having second thoughts about running again for the Senate.
“Have your intentions changed?” Lake asked Masters, according to two sources who heard the conversation and two others who were briefed on it.
Masters told Lake he didn't intend to run if she gets into the race, but he told the failed gubernatorial candidate that she was "wasting time" by waiting to announce.
“You should have been in this race yesterday,” Masters said, one of the sources told The Daily Beast.
Lake seemed to needle Masters for not challenging his election loss, as she has for months and months.
"You ran and hid under the bed as soon as the election was over,” Lake said, according to one of the sources.
The pair then debated who would be the more viable Senate candidate, and Masters angered Lake by saying he did not think she could win.
"According to one of the sources, Lake 'tried to be cool and suave' about the call, but instead became 'rattled' and 'defensive,' while another source described Masters as 'angry' and said the phone call was 'tense,'" the Beast reported. "By the end of the conversation, neither side had much clarity on the intentions of the other, but the discussion ended in familiar territory."
Lake, according to one of the sources, demanded to know whether Masters agreed she had won her 2022 gubernatorial race.
“Don’t you think I won?” Lake asked, according to the source.
