Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Two Trump-Endorsed Candidates Are About To Face Off At The Ballot Box — Here’s What They Make Of It

Blake Masters, Kari Lake, Mark Finchem & Abraham Hamadeh

Two Trump-endorsed candidates are set to square off at the ballot box in an atypical race Tuesday, with both men telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that they are ecstatic to have the backing of the former president.

Blake Masters, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, and Abe Hamadeh, who ran for state attorney general in 2022, are vying to be the Republican candidate for Congress in Arizona’s Eighth District, a seat that represents Phoenix suburbs and is currently held by outgoing Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko. Trump announced that he is endorsing both of the candidates over the weekend after initially endorsing Hamadeh in December 2023.

“I’m honored to be endorsed again by President Trump, and it makes me the only candidate in my race who is endorsed by the whole Trump-Vance ticket. So President Trump’s endorsed me, and so has future VP J.D. Vance, which I think is pretty cool,” Masters told the DCNF. “I expect nothing, right? I think the Trump endorsement is something that’s an honor if you get it. And you know, just as a candidate, you’ve got to control what you can control, and what I could control is working hard every day, getting out and articulating, promoting, defending the Trump America First agenda. So that’s what I’ve done. I was thrilled to have Trump’s backing in 2022 obviously, and was thrilled to get it now again here, a little bit later in the game, in this race.”

Prior to being selected as Trump’s running mate, Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance endorsed Masters in the race in 2023, according to the Arizona Republic.

Swing State GOP Rep’s Retirement Sets Up Messy Republican Primary For 2024https://t.co/GmqoXdR1Jm

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 26, 2023

“Usually, someone with a Trump endorsement, after eight or nine months, they ought to be able to be winning by 20 points, and Abe was clearly unable to do that. So I think people saw a lot of weakness in his candidacy,” Masters told the DCNF. “It was very unclear that he was on track to win, and by contrast, I just focused and kept talking about the importance of stopping illegal immigration, and ran a very strong campaign, and people sort of saw that strength and momentum.”

Both candidates are Trump-aligned conservatives as opposed to more traditional Republicans, and both describe themselves as adherents to Trump’s America First principles. The most recent polling for the race, collected on July 17 and 18, and conducted by a research firm Data Orbital, shows Masters leading Hamadeh by three points in a crowded primary field, though a separate poll conducted between June 10 and 12 sponsored by Hamadeh’s campaign had him leading Masters by double digits. (RELATED: ‘Unifying The Party’: Michigan GOP Senate Candidate Endorses Trump-Endorsed Opponent At Rally)

Hamadeh, meanwhile, was also thankful to get the former president’s endorsement. He characterized the possibility for a dual endorsement as something that had been discussed for months, and made clear that he thinks the voters will support him over Masters despite the latter’s endorsement from Trump.

“There’s been talks about this happening for months, especially the kind of amplified stuff after J.D. Vance’s selection as VP, in many ways, but it’s been happening for months. There’s always been talks, I mean, Blake just refuses to accept reality. He’s not from the district. He’s all the way in Tucson, but there’s a lot of pressure,” Hamadeh told the DCNF.

The two Arizona Republicans have become bitter rivals during the heated primary campaign, trading barbs and ad hominem attacks as they duke it out for the right to represent the GOP in November’s general election, according to Bloomberg News.

“They made up their minds months ago, and honestly, they made up their minds after November 2022, when Blake Masters abandoned us. He abandoned me and Kari Lake as we fought the corruption here,” Hamadeh told the DCNF, referencing the district’s GOP base voters.

“I know a lot of reporters are not here on the ground, but if you go to any of these meetings or in the district, I mean, Blake gets boo-ed constantly, they just think he’s a fake, and he does, and they think he’s a snake, and he’s run the most despicable campaign against me, and it’s going to backfire on Blake. That’s what it seems to me; this seems like a last desperate attempt from Blake Masters. And to have Trump’s team at least get a victory coming into Tuesday, no matter who prevails, and to have an ally in Congress, I think that’s what they’re hoping for.”

Other than Masters and Hamadeh, there are several other GOP candidates hoping to win Tuesday’s general election. Other individuals running in the GOP primary include former Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, Arizona State Rep. Ben Toma and Arizona State Sen. Anthony Kern.