Once in a great while, Donald Trump will look at a primary, size up the Republican candidates, struggle to settle on a favorite, and end up endorsing more than one contender. Two years ago this week, for example, the former president endorsed two leading contenders in a Senate primary in Missouri.
As NBC News reported, the GOP’s presidential nominee has done the same thing in a closely watched congressional primary in Arizona, though the circumstances in this race are worth a closer look.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed two candidates in Arizona’s competitive Republican primary for the state’s 8th Congressional District in a Truth Social post Saturday night. Trump previously endorsed only ardent election denier Abe Hamadeh but opted to double his endorsements and also support Blake Masters in the primary.
“We have a very important Republican Primary Election on Tuesday for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, with two spectacular America First Candidates,” Trump wrote in a message published to his social media platform. “Both Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh have my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Congressman of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.”
At first blush, this might look like a replay of the Missouri race: Trump liked both candidates, so he endorsed both candidates.
But in this specific primary, it’s not that simple.
This Arizona district, just north of Phoenix, is a Republican stronghold, and it’s generally understood that the winner of the GOP primary is all but certain to win the House seat. It was against this backdrop that Trump publicly endorsed Hamadeh eight months ago, choosing him over Masters, despite the fact that the former president endorsed Masters’ ill-fated Senate candidacy two years ago.
Nevertheless, as the local congressional primary has unfolded, Masters has repeatedly suggested that he enjoyed Trump’s support, pointing to the former president’s 2022 backing. In one campaign ad, for example, viewers were told “TRUMP ENDORSED MASTERS” in bold letters — while a smaller font added, “IN SENATE CAMPAIGN.”
It reached the point at which Susie Wiles, Trump’s campaign manager, reportedly called Masters directly about this. Politico reported earlier this month that Wiles urged the Arizonan “to pull or change ads” that falsely implied that he had Trump’s support in his congressional campaign.
Three weeks later, Trump extended his support to Masters’ congressional campaign. For Hamadeh, the news was likely a punch to the gut. Hamadeh, who narrowly lost a state attorney general race in the Grand Canyon State in 2022, has based much of his candidacy on the fact that he was the Trump-backed candidate in the primary. And while that’s still the case, as the race approaches the finish line, the former president has apparently decided that Hamadeh is no longer the only Trump-backed candidate in the primary. It’s difficult to speculate as to why, exactly, the Republican made this surprise announcement, but The New York Times reported over the weekend that Trump’s relationship with Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel is starting to “thaw,” and Masters is a close Thiel ally. I have a hunch that won’t make Hamadeh feel any better about having to share the former president’s support. Primary Day in Arizona is just 24 hours away.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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