14 Dec 7th–Dec 13th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | general election. Pearson said U.S. census data shows that new residents are coming from California, the Pacific Northwest and the Rust Belt and are registering as Independents in large droves. She said they’ll be the “wild card” in the November 2024 election, since less is known about their political preferences. “We have small cities in these new developments. On a typical campaign, you would not market to those folks because they’ve never voted before. But for this race, those new residents are going to be critical,” Pearson explained. District 8 is historically a safe Republican seat, but Pearson said it could be more competitive in 2024. She said even if the Democrat is bound to lose, the race could draw national investments to boost Democratic votes for other races. “Arizona is so critical to the control of the U.S. Senate and the White House,” Pearson said. “When we’ve got races this tight at the top of the ticket, those invest- ments are extraordinarily important.” But before that, the Republican primary candidates will have to duke it out to win a crowded primary. “It appears at this point, they’re trying to figure out whose tinfoil hat is the shin- iest,” Pearson said. “And that is just bad for Arizona.” Here’s a rundown of the circus clowns in the 8th District. The Trump Kid: Abe Hamadeh The 32 year old with no expe- rience in an elected office lost the attorney general race last year to Kris Mayes by a mere 280 votes. Hamadeh only had about three years of experience in law before running to be the chief legal officer in the state, but his public devotion to Trump and the former president’s endorsement delivered him a win in the Republican primary. Hamadeh also is still trying to overturn the results of the 2022 election while simul- taneously running for Congress. He has almost all of these things in common with his pal Kari Lake, whose Senate campaign launch he spoke at in October. “For too long, our system has benefited the few at the expense of the many,” Hamadeh said at the event, which was held at the headquarters of a magazine that bragged about being read by the top 1% of wealth owners. Hamadeh tweeted his campaign announcement on Oct. 17, with a central campaign message that read: “President Trump is under attack. He needs back up — and I’m ready to help him Make America Great Again.” Expect Hamadeh to play up his loyalty to Trump, the golden idol the Republican primary voter base just cannot give up. The Carpetbagger: Blake Masters The loser of the U.S. Senate race in 2022 wants this seat so bad he’s running for it from Tucson where he lives — some 120 miles away from District 8. “He doesn’t live in the district and has never lived in the district,” Dell’Artino said, adding that being from out of town could be a red flag for many voters. “They (voters in the district) are cognizant of carpetbag- gers. They do like somebody that’s been there and knows and understands the area and, most importantly, understands their issues.” The 37 year old won the GOP primary for U.S. Senate with a huge boost from his former employer, billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who donated $15 million to a Masters super PAC. The pocket change Thiel spent on his protege didn’t pay off: Arizona voters didn’t buy Master’s candidacy. He lost to Sen. Mark Kelly, with one Republican operative reportedly claiming Masters “had scored the worst focus group results of any candidate he had ever seen.” Masters took hard, conservative stances on issues such as abortion until it hurt his candidacy after the end of Roe v. Wade. And while chatting with conservatives at a Phoenix IHOP, he promoted the conspiracy theory that the FBI was behind the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Masters is likely to have plenty of money behind him from Thiel, but he is far less likely to have Trump’s backing this time around. Circus Clowns from p 13 >> p 16 Abe Hamadeh (Photo by TJ L’Heureux) Blake Masters (Photo by Gage Skidmore)
