Donald Trump is taking a victory lap after the Arizona primary, claiming his endorsed candidates have a “10 out of 10” chance of winning their races.
‘Trump and his supporters in Arizona, 10 out of 10! MAGA2024!’ he wrote on Truth Social.
But in one of the primaries, Trump at the last second endorsed the two leading candidates.
Arizona’s Abe Hamadeh won a House race against Blake Masters in an unusual primary that initially pitted JD Vance and Trump against each other, until Trump decided to endorse both candidates.
On Wednesday night, Hamadeh declared victory and Masters resigned while votes were still being counted.
“What a race! Lots of headwinds! But you can’t cry over spilt milk. It’s already done,” Masters wrote in X.
“Congratulations to Abe Hamadeh. It is time to unite around him,” he added.
Hamadeh, 33, the son of Syrian immigrants and a former prosecutor and Army intelligence officer, previously lost a race for Arizona attorney general in 2022.
He is expected to win in November in the district where outgoing Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., won re-election with 96.5 percent nearly two years ago.
“They underestimated me because they underestimated the American people,” Hamadeh wrote in X. “The good guys still have a chance… go for it!”
Hamadeh had been targeted by Masters because of his ethnicity and the fact that he was single and had no children.
He also originally got Trump’s backing, while Vance had always supported Masters. DailyMail.com previously reported that the two men found themselves at odds in the race.
Then, over the weekend, in what appears to be a first, Trump endorsed both top Republicans.
In what appears to be a first, Donald Trump has endorsed both top Republicans in an Arizona House primary in which they compete against each other.
“Both will be spectacular, and I am pleased to announce that both Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh have my full and complete endorsement to be the next Congressmen from Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. They will not disappoint!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
Hamadeh and Masters have become bitter rivals since they both ran unsuccessfully on the same ticket in 2022: Hamadeh for attorney general and Masters for the Senate.
Triumph ordered Masters not to run This time, she ran for Senate again to make way for Kari Lake, and he agreed. Masters, by contrast, focused on the House race for the 8th District, and this time Trump threw his full force at her before Sunday’s change of seats.
“Blake Masters is a very successful businessman and an incredibly strong advocate for our Movement to Make America Great Again. He is smart and strong! Likewise, Abe Hamadeh, a veteran, former prosecutor and courageous fighter for election integrity, has been with me every step of the way,” Trump said.
The endorsement came just after Trump praised cryptocurrencies at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Vance is scheduled to hold a rally in the Arizona district on Wednesday, the day after the primary. A source familiar with the campaign questioned whether Trump was afraid that Vance’s political influence would outstrip his own.
Vance and Masters share a connection through billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
Masters served as chief operating officer of Thiel Capital until 2022, when he stepped down to focus on the Senate bid. But FEC disclosures show that Thiel paid Masters a staggering $25 million as a bonus last year. The form says the payment was part of a five-year plan agreed to in 2018.
Thiel, who donated $10 million to Masters’ failed 2022 Senate bid, declined to make political donations this cycle. Trump reportedly called him a “fucking scumbag” to Masters after the former president called Thiel to ask him to donate $10 million to his 2024 campaign.
Meanwhile, Thiel served as a mentor to Vance, supported his venture capital firm, donated more than $15 million to his Senate campaign and helped him secure other high-profile donors.
While he has yet to commit any more money this cycle, Thiel appears to be… warming up to Trump’s candidacy.
Masters has sparked controversy by leaning into Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments.
“Political leaders should have children. And of course they should be married,” Masters wrote in X. “If you don’t or can’t head a household, how can you relate to a constituency of families or govern wisely with respect to future generations? The risk is significant.”
Masters has directed the same criticism at Hamadeh, who is single, contrasting him with Masters himself, who has a “wonderful wife and four beautiful children.”
Trump and his vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance, had already found themselves on opposite sides in the contentious Arizona primary.
Vance told Tucker Carlson in a 2021 interview that the United States is run “by Democrats, by our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of cat-loving women with no children.”
“Dishonest Abe supported Chuck Schumer’s amnesty bill, perhaps because Abe’s parents were illegal immigrants,” a Masters ad read. “Dishonest Abe said women have the right to abort their babies. Dishonest Abe supported cuts to Social Security, Medicare and the military. Dishonest Abe said America was founded on Islamic principles. He even said Israel was behind 9/11.”
The video shows images of Hamadeh with minarets around him in Mecca, wearing an Ihram.
A PAC that endorsed Masters last month launched an announcement accusing Hamadeh of being a “terrorist sympathizer.”
A former member of Congress who offered a staffer $5 million to have his child, a Trump-backed Senate candidate who failed and whom the former president is now working against and a local lawmaker who spouted pro-Hitler talking points are among the colorful candidates vying for the seat to replace Lesko.