PHOENIX — How much would you spend to win one of Arizona’s most competitive primary elections?
Although Blake Masters’ campaign for Rep. Debbie Lesko’s seat has raised millions of dollars, the latest Federal Election Commission reports show that the billionaire-connected candidate is uniquely bringing in most of his funding from his own pocketbook.
More than 87% of Blake Masters' funding comes from ... Blake Masters.
Masters has raised $4 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. Of that, $3.5 million comes from loans to himself.
The race for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District is fierce. The district stretches between Maricopa and Yavapai counties from Glendale to just below Black Canyon City and encompasses several retirement communities like Sun City West.
CD 8 is considered one of the safest Republican seats in Arizona. Rep. Debbie Lesko ran for it functionally unopposed in 2022 and secured 96.5% of the vote. Now that she’s resigning to pursue a seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, this deep-red district is up for grabs and it’s almost certain that the July 30 Republican primary will decide who gets it.
"In today’s hypermedia world, candidates will succeed or fail based on the amount of advertising they can put before the public," Arizona State University professor Craig Allen explained. "If you don’t keep hammering your name and message, particularly on social media, you’ll lose. The advertising needed is enormously expensive."
Five competitive GOP candidates are in the running: Trent Franks, Abe Hamadeh, Sen. Anthony Kern, Blake Masters and Rep. Ben Toma. In addition to the high profile names, there’s a lot of money in the race. As of July 10, Masters’ campaign has raised around $4 million. Hamadeh’s campaign was the next highest-performing with $1.36 million raised, followed by Rep. Toma’s with just under $848,000. Masters’ campaign had $975,640 on hand at the end of June — around $307,000 more the other five candidates combined.
Since Dec. 2023, Masters has contributed $3.5 million to his own campaign but lagged behind other candidates in terms of widespread backers. His campaign received roughly $375,600 in individual contributions — roughly $165,000 of that from the WinRed PAC.
When compared to the roughly $943,700 in individual contributions that Hamadeh’s campaign raised and the $781,900 for Toma’s campaign, the numbers place Masters in the middle of the pack. He is followed by Sen. Kern who raised $144,600 from individuals and Franks who raised $43,100.
However, with the amount of money that Masters is putting in, that perceived lack of support likely won't matter.
"Masters is one of the rare politicians who can finance a campaign from his huge personal fortune," Allen said. "In such a rare situation, individual contributions are not a good indicator of voter opinion. Hamadeh and Toma no doubt are actively seeking individual contributions. Masters doesn’t need to do this onerous work."
Outside of his own contributions and funding from the Masters Victory Committee PAC, no single donation to Masters exceeds $6,600.
Conversely, Hamadeh’s campaign reported four individual contributions of $13,200 — one of which was from his wealthy brother, Waseem Hamadeh of HOH Investment Group who has also made significant contributions to a pro-Hamadeh PAC. WinRed has contributed roughly $$320,350 to Hamadeh’s campaign.
Although Toma hasn't received any large individual donations over $5,000, WinRed has contributed around $254,800 to his campaign.
This isn’t the first time that Masters’ campaign has been supported by one major donor. In 2022, Masters won Arizona's Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in large part due to $15 million in spending by his benefactor and former boss, Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel. That year, Thiel's $15 million accounted for 92% of the funding for the Saving Arizona Super PAC that helped Masters’ ultimately unsuccessful campaign for Sen. Mark Kelly's seat.
PAC funding isn't expected to make much of a difference in this election. With the district voting so strongly Republican, there's less need for national groups to focus on the upcoming general election for CD8. Less certain races are happening across the state, so that money's better spent elsewhere.
The latest Data Orbital polls show Masters with a 3% lead over Hamadeh. Now, it will be up to the people living in CD8 to decide if Masters’ deep pockets are what wins them over.
Masters' campaign did not return a request for comment.
The six CD8 GOP primary candidates are:
- Former eight-term Congressman Trent Franks, who resigned his seat in 2017 amid an office scandal
- State Sen. Anthony Kern of Glendale, who is charged with nine felonies in the Arizona "fake electors" scheme after the 2020 presidential election
- Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma
- Abe Hamadeh, who is the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate and also ran for Arizona Attorney General in 2022.
- Blake Masters, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022.
- Patrick "Pat" Briody, who is an independent contractor.
>> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.
ARIZONA POLITICS
Get the latest Arizona political news on our 12News YouTube playlist here.
