The America First battle over Arizona’s 8th Congressional district

Today, the state of Arizona is hosting its Republican Congressional primary election. While most GOP primaries are not particularly competitive, Arizona’s 8th Congressional district has gained national attention in recent months.

Earlier this year, current Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (AZ CD-8) announced that she would not run for reelection for the 2024 election cycle. Consequently, a major opportunity opened up in Arizona’s 8th Congressional district—which is a solidly Republican Congressional seat.

Consequently, seven Republican candidates will appear on the ballot today for this hotly-contested GOP Congressional primary. Whoever wins the Republican primary for this district will become the overwhelming favorite to win the general election against Democrat nominee Gregory Whitten.

The two strongest Republican candidates for Arizona’s 8th Congressional district are Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh. For those who don’t know, Masters and Hamadeh both ran for statewide office in 2022. Masters lost in Arizona’s Senate election against Democrat incumbent Senator Mark Kelly. Hamadeh lost Arizona’s Secretary of State election to Democrat nominee Kris Mayes by a supposed 280 vote margin—out of roughly 2.5 million votes cast. President Trump endorsed both Masters and Hamadeh in their respective elections in 2022.

Back in 2022, the widescale voting machine issues in Maricopa County cast severe doubts on the legitimacy of Arizona elections for candidates like Hamadeh (AG) and Kari Lake (Governor). Regardless, Arizona’s political establishment forced through the initial election results, and Republican candidates lost nearly all of Arizona’s statewide elections in 2022–i.e. US Senate. Governor, Attorney General. & Secretary of State.

Fast forward to 2024, Masters and Hamadeh are looking to become public officeholders after disappointing defeats in 2022. Both Masters and Hamadeh announced their candidacy in late 2023 and immediately became the frontrunner candidates after incumbent Debbie Lesko announced her retirement in early 2024.

However, the “America First” battle between Masters and Hamadeh started heating up in December 2023 when Trump announced his official endorsement for Arizona’s 8th Congressional district for the 2024 election. Trump’s endorsement from last December 2023 went to Abe Hamadeh.

After several grueling months of campaigning, Masters and Hamadeh appeared to run neck heading into today’s primary election. In fact, a recent poll from Data Orbital found Masters leading Hamadeh by roughly 2% in this likely toss-up election.

Then suddenly, a complete surprise potentially changed the course of the race. Over the weekend, President Trump made the following post on his Truth Social account. President Trump decided to co-endorse both Blake Masters and Abe Hamadeh for today’s primary election for AZ CD-8.

Today’s primary is going to be even more with President Trump’s surprise co-endorsement.

Personally, I support Blake Masters over Abe Hamadeh in this election. Based on my research, Masters appears to be more of an authentically “America First” candidate in this election.

Regardless of who wins, the winner of this Congressional primary will revive their national political profile after a election loss in 2022. The final question remaining is “who will win”: Masters or Hamadeh? Only today’s primary will tell.