Blake Masters | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Masters in 2024 | |
| Born | Blake Gates Masters (1986-08-05)August 5, 1986 (age 38) |
| Education | Stanford University (BA,JD) |
| Occupations |
|
| Employer(s) | Thiel Capital,Thiel Foundation (former) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Catherine Blanton[1] |
| Children | 4 |
Blake Gates Masters (born August 5, 1986) is an Americanventure capitalist and former political candidate.[2][3] Often regarded as aprotégé of businessmanPeter Thiel,[4] Masters co-wroteZero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future with Thiel in 2014, based on notes Masters had taken atStanford Law School in 2012. He later served aschief operating officer (COO) of Thiel's investment firm, Thiel Capital, as well as president of theThiel Foundation.
In the2022 United States Senate election in Arizona, Masters defeated state Attorney GeneralMark Brnovich and businessman Jim Lamon to become theRepublican Party nominee. He aligned himself with Thiel, who funded his primary campaign with $15 million, andDonald Trump, both of whom endorsed him in June 2022.[5]
Masters lost the general election to incumbentDemocratMark Kelly.[6] Masters received the fewest votes among all statewide Republican candidates in the2022 Arizona elections.The Washington Post called him one of the "worst candidates of the 2022 election."[7]
Masters ran for theU.S. House in2024 forArizona's 8th congressional district.[8][9] He lost the Republican primary toAbraham Hamadeh, coming in second.[10]
Masters was born inDenver, Colorado, in 1986, the son of Marilyn, who ran a tutoring center, and Scott Masters, who worked in the software industry.[11] He grew up inTucson, Arizona.[12] In high school, Masters attendedGreen Fields Country Day School, which was at the time a private school in Tucson, where he played basketball.[13] He graduated in 2004. Masters received abachelor's degree in political science fromStanford University in 2008.[14] He then earned aJ.D. from Stanford University Law School in 2012.[15]
As a teenage undergraduate, Masters expressed his political views on aCrossFit chat room and aLiveJournal blog. In a 2006 essay criticizing theWar in Iraq on thelibertarian siteLewRockwell.com, Masters decriedU.S. entry into World War I and described a quote fromNaziHermann Goering on the susceptibility of the masses to incitements of war, as being "particularly representative and poignant".[16][17] He also endorsed conspiracy theoristG. Edward Griffin's claim that the "Houses of Morgan andRothschild" were linked to thesinking of theLusitania.[18]
During his college years, Masters contended that Iraq andal-Qaeda were not "substantial threats to Americans", calling for "unrestricted immigration" and anisolationist foreign policy.[18] On his 2006 writings, he told theJewish Insider in 2022, "I was 19, writing in opposition to the Iraq War—a stance that turned out to be prescient. I went too far and stated that no recent American wars have been just." He added: "I suppose it was only a matter of time before I got called antisemitic for criticizing wartime propaganda in an essay I wrote as a teenager."[18]
Masters' posts became a political issue after they were unearthed during his 2022 Senate campaign.[18][19] TheAnti-Defamation League criticized him, and Masters' primary rival Jim Lamon ran television ads highlighting the posts.[18]
Masters spent four months in 2010 as a law clerk for aU.S. Attorney's Office.[20] In January 2011 he met Thiel atStanford Law School. They exchanged emails with each other a year later and Thiel invited Masters to attend a class he was to teach in spring 2012. Masters would post detailed notes from Thiel's lectures on a blog which grew popular within the tech community.[21] Renditions of Masters' notes reappeared online, prompting Masters to get in contact with Thiel about compiling them into a book.[21]Zero to One was released in September 2014 and received warm reviews fromThe Atlantic andPublishers Weekly.[22][23] According toPolitico, the book portrayed "globalization as the enemy of innovation."[24] Masters was included onForbes30 Under 30 list in 2014.[25]
Masters co-founded Judicata, a legal research service, in 2013. The website officially launched in 2017, though Masters left the project in 2014.[26] The website was acquired by Fastcase in 2020.[27] After meeting Thiel, Masters went to work for him, becoming chief operating officer of the investment firmThiel Capital and president of the Thiel Foundation.[28][29] Thiel chose Masters and other employees to assist in thepresidential transition ofDonald Trump in November 2016.[30][31]
In October 2019, Masters suggested he would launch a primary challenge against Republican U.S. SenatorMartha McSally, expressing concern McSally was not a good candidate and criticizing her loss in the2018 election, which Masters said was a "winnable" race.[32] In January 2020, Masters said he would not run against McSally.[33]
In March 2022, Masters resigned from his positions at Thiel's investment firm and foundation to campaign in the 2022 Arizona Senate race.[29][34]
.jpg)
In April 2021, Masters reappeared as a potential candidate for the Republican nomination forU.S. Senate in 2022, challenging incumbentDemocratMark Kelly. Peter Thiel spent $10 million to seed a new pro-Masterssuper PAC, "Saving Arizona PAC", to promote Masters' candidacy.[29][35] Masters officially entered the race in July 2021,[36][37] and Thiel gave an additional $3.5 million to the pro-Masters super PAC in May 2022.[29][38]
In the Republican primary race, Masters faced state Attorney GeneralMark Brnovich, former Arizona National GuardAdjutant GeneralMick McGuire,Arizona Corporation CommissionerJustin Olson, and businessman Jim Lamon.[39][40] The Republican primary campaign was characterized by high campaign spending and a wave of negative campaign advertisements.[40]
During a Republican primary debate, Masters said that he supported impeaching PresidentJoe Biden and removing him from office due to border enforcement issues.[41]
Masters issuednon-fungible tokens (NFTs) to fundraise for his campaign, announcing that the first 99 donors to contribute over $5,800 to his campaign would receive a limited edition NFT that would allow access to a private chat server and live events, as well as a copy of his book signed by himself and Thiel.[42][43] Within the first 36 hours, Masters raised $575,000 for his campaign from selling NFTs.[44]
During his campaign, Masters cited the bookBeautiful Losers, a collection ofwhite supremacist writerSam Francis' essays, as an influence on his style of conservatism.[2]
Masters won the Republican nomination in the August 2, 2022, primary with about 40% of the vote. Jim Lamon finished second and Mark Brnovich was third.[45]Steven J. Law, the leader of a Republican-aligned super PAC, said that Masters "had scored the worst focus group results of any candidate he had ever seen," and cancelled all of its Arizona television advertisements supporting Masters to divert money to other races.[46]
In the November 8, 2022 election, Masters was defeated by Kelly by a margin of 4.9%.[47][48] Masters was the weakest-performing statewide Republican candidate in Arizona, receiving fewer votes than even controversial Secretary of State candidateMark Finchem. Masters underperformed Donald Trump inArizona in 2020 by 4.6%, despite 2022 being a more favorable year for Republicans.[49]The Washington Post published an analysis by Aaron Blake calling him one of the "worst candidates of the 2022 election."[7]
Masters later conceded the race to Kelly. After his election loss, Masters acknowledged Republicans needed to rethink the way they run campaigns.[50]
.jpg)
Politico described his 2022 campaign platform as "hard-linenationalist".[51] During his 2022 Senate campaign, Masters invoked theGreat Replacement conspiracy theory, saying that Democrats "hope to just change the demographics of our country... They hope to import an entirely new electorate."[52][53][54] Masters considers himself "anAmerica First conservative".[31][55]
Masters opposesabortion and has criticizedGriswold v. Connecticut, theU.S. Supreme Court ruling that recognized a constitutional right to obtaincontraceptives, although he has said that he does not want to outlaw contraception.[51] Masters said that if elected to the Senate, he would vote to confirmfederal judicial nominees only if they "understand thatRoe andGriswold andCasey were wrongly decided".[56]
In August 2022, following theDobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court case that overruledRoe v. Wade, Masters "scrubbed" his campaign website and "softened his rhetoric" by "rewriting or erasing five of his six positions" on abortion including the removal of his "100%pro-life" text.[57] His position, as of August 2022, is that he favors "a federal personhood law that would ban abortions nationwide after the beginning of the third trimester", unless the life of the mother is at risk.[58]
While campaigning on a talk show, Masters said the "gun violence problem" was an issue, saying, "It's gangs. It's people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, black people, frankly. And the Democrats don't want to do anything about that."[59]
Masters believes in reducing the amount of legal immigration.[60] He has embraced the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, asserting that Democrats want to deliberately engineer demographic replacement of Americanwhite people via immigration. In a campaign ad, he said, "We're going to end this invasion".[61]
In a statement to the New York Times, Master denied that he promotes the Great Replacement theory, saying that "It is obvious to everyone that Democrats see illegal immigrants as future voters. No 'theory' is needed to observe that."[54]
Masters has echoedDonald Trump's claims that the2020 presidential election was "stolen".[62] In June 2021, Masters said that "it's really hard to know" the winner of the 2020 presidential election, and supported anaudit of the vote in Maricopa County.[63] In a November 2021 campaign ad, Masters stated he thought "Trump won in 2020". He appeared at a fundraiser with the former president atMar-a-Lago shortly afterward.[64] Trump endorsed his candidacy in June 2022.[62][65]
In August 2022,CNN reported that Masters had removed text from his campaign website that "included the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, along with a section arguing the country would be better off if Trump was still the president."[3]
In March 2022, when Masters was asked by a podcast interviewer to name an "underrated subversive thinker", he namedTed Kaczynski.[53] While clarifying that he did not endorse Kaczynski’s bombings, Masters said thatIndustrial Society and Its Future, the domestic terrorist’smanifesto, contained "a lot of [correct] insight".[66][67] An Arizona-based GOP strategist toldThe Hill that the "Ted Kaczynski gaffe" was partly responsible for Master's falling poll numbers.[67]
In August 2021, Masters called for new leadership in theU.S. Armed Forces due to perceived partisan leanings, saying "I would love to see all thegenerals get fired. You take the most conservative colonels, you promote them to general."[68]
Masters opposesAmerican aid to Ukraine.[51]
Masters has suggestedprivatizing Social Security, but has opposed cuts and in August 2022 indicated support for increases to the program.[69]
Meeting with conservativeTea Party activists in March 2022, Masters questioned whether theFBI was involved in theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack.[70]
Although Masters has invested in several technology firms, he frequently criticizesBig Tech.[51][71] He supportedElon Musk'sproposed acquisition of Twitter, called for legislation to treat major social media companies as "common carriers" and to regulateGoogle'ssearch algorithm.[71]
Masters has called for a "federalBitcoin reserve".[38]
In October 2023, Masters announced that he would run for the seat inArizona's 8th congressional district in theU.S. House of Representatives in 2024, a few days after incumbentDebbie Lesko announced she would not run for re-election.[9] Masters lost the Republican primary toAbe Hamadeh, coming in second.[10]
Masters opined in July 2024: "Political leaders should have children. Certainly they should at least be married", so that they can "relate to a constituency of families, or govern wisely with respect to future generations"; Masters said this three months after criticizing his Republican primary rival Abe Hamadeh as a politician "we don't need" for having "no wife and kids, no skin in the game".[72]
Donald Trump initially did not endorse Masters in the primary, instead supporting Hamadeh, an unsuccessful candidate for Arizona attorney general in 2022.[73] Masters caused controversy during the 2024 campaign for referring to Hamadeh, who identifies his faith as bothDruze andMuslim, as a "terrorist sympathizer."[74][75] Masters' attack ads showed Hamadeh inSaudi Arabia, where he was stationed while serving in theU.S. Army.[76] Trump later endorsed both Hamadeh and Masters in July, aligning with his running mateJD Vance's support for Masters.[77]
Masters and his wife, Catherine Blanton, married in 2012.[78] They have four sons.[79] Masters isCatholic.[80][81]
For Blake Masters, aPeter Thiel protégé...
Blake Masters, the Trump-endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona andPeter Thiel protégé, has taken the lead...
Masters was the perfectThiel protégé.
...a profile of US Senate candidate Blake Masters, the 35-year-oldprotégé of PayPal co-founder PeterThiel.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)I'll end with a particularly representative and poignant quotation:
Unexpectedly, Masters concludes his article with what he describes as a "particularly representative and poignant quotation" from Goering, a high-ranking Nazi official who was known as Adolf Hitler's right-hand man...
Thiel may be more responsible than anyone else for Blake Masters' ascent in the Arizona Republican Senate primary. ... The PayPal founder and early Facebook investor has poured $13.5 million into a super PAC called "Saving Arizona" that's supporting his protégé.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromArizona (Class 3) 2022 | Most recent |
