EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Voters Want Congressman Blake Masters

There have been rumors that Blake Masters has been gearing up for another Senate run in 2024 after falling just short in 2022, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell abandoned support of Masters’ campaign in the final 90 days. But what about Representative Blake Masters? Arizona voters think it’s got a nice ring to it, according to a new poll.

A poll conducted by Data Orbital and provided to The American Conservative shows that Masters would enter the race as the clear favorite if he mounted a run.

Arizona’s 8th Congressional district south west of Phoenix is Trump country. The former president maintains an overwhelming net favorability of +54.7 percent in Arizona’s 8th, according to the poll, and the Cook PVI lists the district as R+10. Data Orbital’s poll found that Masters also enjoys “near ubiquitous name ID” at 92.7 percent and a high net-favorability rating of +26 percent.

Meanwhile, Masters’ would-be primary opponent, Abe Hamadeh, has a massive name ID problem. Despite Hamadeh running a state-wide campaign in 2022 for attorney general, “A full third of GOP primary voters have never heard of him” and “more than half have no opinion of him.” That much is reflected in the fundraising data from Masters and Hamadeh’s previous runs. While Masters raised over $4 million in his Senate primary campaign, over $1 million per quarter, and raised about $12 million total over the course of his campaign, Hamadeh’s primary campaign raised just over half a million dollars and was kept afloat by a series of family loans.

Head-to-head against Hamadeh, Masters leads by double digits, poll data showed. Masters polled at 39.4 percent to Hamadeh’s 27.2 percent.

In a multi-candidate primary between Masters, Hamadeh, and two other candidates who could enter the contest, state Representative Ben Toma and state Senator Anthony Kern, the poll showed Masters had a nearly 15 point lead. Masters polled at 33.2 percent, Hamadeh at 18.4 percent, Toma at 6.8 percent, and Kern at 5.5 percent. Another 31.5 percent of voters were undecided and 4.6 percent refused to answer the question.

If he runs, Masters would be filling the open seat left by Rep. Debbie Lesko. The three-term congresswoman announced amidst House Republicans’ search for a new Speaker of the House that she would not be seeking re-election in 2024. “It has been a great honor to serve the people of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District in Congress, however, I have decided not to run for reelection in 2024. I want to spend more time with my husband, my 94-year-old mother, my three children, and my five grandchildren,” Lesko said in an October 17 release.

Masters would also be viewed as the most conservative candidate who could replace the outgoing congresswoman, according to the poll. Nearly 60 percent of respondents identified Masters as conservative, whereas 41.6 percent considered Hamadeh conservative.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Voters Want Congressman Blake Masters appeared first on The American Conservative.