Blake Masters, the Republican who lost his Arizona Senate bid to Democrat Mark Kelly last year, is planning another run for office, this time challenging independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, according to multiple reports.
Sinema’s seat is a key target for Republicans hoping to make gains during the 2024 election. It’s unclear if she plans to run for reelection, but the race is almost guaranteed to be chaotic for both parties after she left the Democrats last year.
Failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is also eyeing a bid and could announce her own run sometime this fall, although Politico notes local GOP strategists aren’t sure the pair would run against each other.
“I think he is now under the impression that maybe Kari Lake isn’t going to run, because I’ll tell you if Lake and Blake are both in, he is wasting his time,” Barrett Marson, an Arizona Republican strategist, told the website. “They occupy the same lane. They have nearly the same name.”
Lake, an ally of Trump, ran for governor in 2022 but lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs. She fiercely contested the results of the race, but her final legal claim was dismissed in May after she spent months spreading unfounded conspiracy theories of rampant voter fraud.
Earlier this month, Lake appeared to take aim at Masters on Twitter, now known as X, saying the man had been “quite silent” on election fraud claims and “election crime.”