{"id":1727790,"date":"2022-11-07T08:27:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T13:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1727790"},"modified":"2022-11-07T08:35:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T13:35:51","slug":"blake-masters-were-on-track-to-win-without-mitch-mcconnells-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blake-masters-were-on-track-to-win-without-mitch-mcconnells-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Masters: We\u2019re on Track to Win Without Mitch McConnell\u2019s Money"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblake-masters-were-on-track-to-win-without-mitch-mcconnells-money%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1727790&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>PHOENIX \u2014 Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters, a political novice who has never run for elected office, is in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/epolls\/2022\/senate\/az\/arizona-senate-masters-vs-kelly-7390.html\">statistical tie<\/a> with Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly heading into Election Day, and he\u2019s done it without much help from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy job is to win with or without Mitch McConnell\u2019s money, and I think we\u2019re on track to win without,\u201d Masters told The Federalist in an exclusive interview on the first day of his final\u00e9 bus tour this past weekend. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1355-1024x768-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-282762\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1355-1024x768-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1355-300x225-1.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1355-768x576-1.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1355-1536x1152-1.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1355-2048x1536-1.jpeg 2048w\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Two months ago, McConnell\u2019s super PAC to reclaim the majority in the upper chamber opened September with an <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/21\/mcconnell-abandons-arizona-senate-race-to-maintain-a-gop-he-can-control\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">axe <\/a>to the rest of its planned spending against Kelly. With Masters down 6 points in the polls against a Democrat who narrowly captured the seat just two years ago, the Senate Leadership Fund gutted $18 million from the race. Kelly won by fewer than 80,000 votes in 2020 and tied himself to an unpopular president over his two years as a senator, voting <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/biden-congress-votes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">95 percent<\/a> of the time with the Biden White House agenda. Instead, McConnell bankrolled the defense of GOP Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, spending more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2022-election\/alaska-senate-race-fueled-trump-mcconnell-feud-rcna51481\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$5 million<\/a> in a race between two Republicans. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI try not to feel entitled to other people\u2019s money,\u201d Masters told The Federalist on Saturday. \u201cThat\u2019s a left-wing value. I\u2019d be like [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] if I felt entitled to other people\u2019s money. So when Mitch McConnell cut funding for Arizona, I could have gotten mad, I could have just started throwing bombs at him in the media, but I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Masters didn\u2019t need to. Where McConnell has chosen to spend money this cycle speaks for itself. Instead of throwing support and funding behind Masters to flip a seat to the GOP, he has bent over backward to protect old-guard Republicans from insurgent GOP candidates who have pledged not to support the octogenarian lawmaker for another term in leadership, even if it means sacrificing chances to reclaim a Senate majority.<\/p>\n<p>If Masters prevails on Tuesday without McConnell\u2019s aid, it will be yet another sign of the new era of Republican politics, in which young, populist outsiders forge a new GOP without asking the establishment for permission.<\/p>\n<p>Masters, who announced during the crowded state primary that he would cast his vote for a more conservative alternative for leader should one arise, never bowed to McConnell in order to garner the Republican Senate chief\u2019s approval and the money that comes with it. McConnell made clear this fall that his money comes with strings attached, and Masters was willing to cut them. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve said I\u2019m going to vote for the most conservative person running,\u201d Masters told The Federalist, maintaining a posture of defiance to the party establishment that has come to define his campaign. <\/p>\n<h2>A New Generation of Republican Leadership<\/h2>\n<p>As far as McConnell is concerned, the threat Masters poses is about more than a vote for Senate leadership. It\u2019s also about the generational change Masters represents: a new brand of bold, conservative populism that the candidate pledges to bring to the upper chamber, undermining old-guard Republicanism altogether. <\/p>\n<p>In many ways, Masters is a <a href=\"https:\/\/compactmag.com\/article\/blake-masters-class-traitor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">traitor to his class<\/a>. A privileged elite from Silicon Valley with degrees from Stanford and Stanford Law, Masters left the fortune of California\u2019s lucrative tech industry to run as a conservative populist for the Arizona Senate seat held by Kelly, an astronaut. Like Ohio\u2019s J.D. Vance, who is also running as a first-time candidate this cycle, Masters is a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, a rare conservative operating in the belly of left-wing America. Thiel pumped $15 million into each campaign through the primaries. If Vance, 38, and Masters, 36 \u2014 both of whom rail against Big Tech as a menace to democracy \u2014 prevail on Tuesday, they will represent ex-Silicon Valley insiders working to reshape conservatism and the Republican Party itself. <\/p>\n<p>Their message has clearly picked up steam among a Republican base energized to turn out for their respective candidates in the midterms, which are historically hostile to the president\u2019s party. During the final days of the primary campaign in Arizona, Masters maintained the momentum he built over the contest with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/epolls\/2022\/senate\/Arizona.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">double-digit lead<\/a> in the polls: He beat the runner-up by 12 points for the nomination.<\/p>\n<h2>Activists Energized by Masters\u2019 Appeal<\/h2>\n<p>Vincent La is a 27-year-old software engineer from California who moved to Arizona in May of last year, alienated by the far-left takeover of the Golden State. As the sun set over the Arizona desert Friday night, La was preparing to canvass for the Republican slate of candidates in the Phoenix suburbs with local congressional candidate Kelly Cooper and several activists. None looked older than 30. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1315-1024x768-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-282760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1315-1024x768-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1315-300x225-1.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1315-768x576-1.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1315-1536x1152-1.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1315-2048x1536-1.jpeg 2048w\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>La said this year is the most involved he\u2019s ever been in an election. He pointed to Masters as his favorite candidate, even during the primary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought he knew what time it was,\u201d La told The Federalist, saying Masters\u2019 antagonism of Big Tech\u2019s empire motivated his vote. \u201cI thought he knew what Republicans needed to do.\u201d Others cited the candidate\u2019s contagious energy. <\/p>\n<p>Ariane Buse also recently fled California for Arizona, disillusioned by the former\u2019s downward spiral under left-wing leaders. Asked in the packed auditorium of Scottsdale\u2019s Dream City Church, the last leg of Masters\u2019 bus tour on Saturday, if she trusted Masters considering his background as a first-time candidate coming from California, Buse was unconcerned and complimented his intensity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he\u2019s young, he\u2019s excited to do something, he\u2019s from Tuscon, he knows what this state needs. I think he\u2019s got great energy,\u201d Buse told The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>If Masters was tired on the sixth and final stop of just day one of a three-day bus tour, it was hardly noticeable. On stage, he attacked inflation, the media, and the border crisis, particularly highlighting the fentanyl flooding the country as \u201cpoison.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1432-1024x768-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-282761\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1432-1024x768-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1432-300x225-1.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1432-768x576-1.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1432-1536x1152-1.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1432-2048x1536-1.jpeg 2048w\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m refusing the term \u2018overdosing,&#8217;\u201d Masters said, describing victims of the crisis as being \u201cpoisoned,\u201d while he blasted \u201climousine liberals\u201d and \u201cchampagne socialists\u201d as apathetic to the problems their policies create. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the kind of forceful rhetoric Republican voters have come to expect of their leaders, and it\u2019s why Masters has resonated with grassroots conservatives in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Ashley Earle is a mother of three children who lives in Scottsdale with her husband. She grew up in Arizona, married her high school sweetheart, and moved their family to the Virginia Appalachians before recently returning home. She homeschools the kids while her husband runs a small business, coping with inflation as they cling to the American dream they\u2019ve found in the Grand Canyon state. Americans everywhere are struggling with rising prices, but Central Arizona is suffering the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc15.com\/news\/region-phoenix-metro\/highest-inflation-rate-in-the-country-is-in-phoenix-and-the-east-valley#:~:text=PHOENIX%20%E2%80%94%20According%20to%20the%20Federal,13%25%2C%20in%20the%20country.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">highest <\/a>rate of inflation in the entire country.<\/p>\n<p>Earle didn\u2019t hesitate when asked outside the Dream City Church auditorium the first thing that comes to mind when she hears the name \u201cBlake Masters.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love his passion,\u201d she said with a smile, comparing their families, which both have three young children. \u201cHe understands what it\u2019s like to be a parent in our age group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked her thoughts about Republican leadership, Earle\u2019s smile dissipated. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like they\u2019re afraid of Blake,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>When pressed backstage on what his success thus far, without support from the top elected Republican in the country, means for the party, Masters said it shows what voters are looking for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it kind of shows I\u2019m more in touch with what people want right now,\u201d Masters said. \u201cI\u2019m running on this very bold but very commonsense America First agenda. It\u2019s not complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It also shows that the America First agenda, which was put forth by President Donald Trump six years ago and dubbed \u201cTrumpsim,\u201d has begun to transcend that label and become a larger movement beyond the man himself. Kari Lake, a local charismatic news anchor who left her nearly 30-year television career to run for governor, was greeted at the final stop as a rock star after campaigning on a Trump-inspired \u201cArizona First\u201d agenda. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1452-1024x768-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-282765\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1452-1024x768-1.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1452-300x225-1.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1452-768x576-1.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1452-1536x1152-1.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_1452-2048x1536-1.jpeg 2048w\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>The state\u2019s Republican Senate and gubernatorial candidates are running as a ticket, encouraging Arizonans to vote \u201cLake and Blake.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Tide Is Already Turning in Washington<\/h2>\n<p>Masters has been able to capitalize on the few D.C. institutions and individuals who <em>are <\/em>responsive to the grassroots activists who make up the Republican base, betting that the way to win elections moving forward is to cater to the people and not the pundits. <\/p>\n<p>Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, explained over lunch in south Phoenix that this year\u2019s slate of candidates aligned against the coastal establishment was a directive for Washington to heed the shift in mood. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe politicians have to remember who they work for, and I think that in Arizona we sent that message,\u201d said Ward. <\/p>\n<p>After McConnell pulled $18 million from Masters\u2019 competitive contest only to dump $5 million into Alaska, other groups such as Heritage Action for America began jumping in to fill the gap. The Sentinel Action Fund, a project of Heritage Action to support candidates with widespread support among the grassroots, has put more than $8 million behind Masters and against his well-funded opponent, who is battling for re-election with nearly $<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/members-of-congress\/mark-kelly\/summary?cid=N00044223\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">80 million<\/a>. The group did the same for Gen. Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, pumping more than $2.15 million into the GOP bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan after McConnell <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/28\/heritage-action-pac-pumps-1-million-into-new-hampshire-after-mcconnell-bails-on-bolduc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">axed <\/a>$5.6 million for the Granite State. Last month, Bolduc joined Masters in maintaining opposition to McConnell for another term as Senate leader.<\/p>\n<p>Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, has spent more on Masters\u2019 race than on any other candidate this cycle. Scott, who publicly <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/01\/rick-scott-savages-mitch-mcconnell-for-trying-to-sabotage-gop-senate-races\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admonished <\/a>McConnell in September when the minority leader <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/19\/come-on-mitch-mcconnell-republicans-need-you-to-step-up-and-lead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">trashed <\/a>the quality of this year\u2019s candidates, has put nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/parties\/indexp.php?cycle=2022&#038;cmte=NRSC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$10 million<\/a> from the NRSC behind the Arizona effort to bring down Kelly.<\/p>\n<p>After months of campaigning tied the polls against the odds, local GOP leaders worry that Masters still might lose over low turnout brought by complacency and that a revolution in the Republican Party might fail. If Republicans want to win \u2014 and they want to win with generational change in Washington \u2014 they will need to show up to the voting booth.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX \u2014 Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters, a political novice who has never run for elected office, is in a statistical tie with Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly heading into<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1727204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1727790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1727790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1727204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1727790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1727790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1727790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}