A fight between Arizona Republican House primary opponents Blake Masters and Abraham Hamadeh is heating up after the leaking of private texts between the two.
On Wednesday, the Daily Mail published texts between Masters and Hamadeh sent in 2023, during Hamadeh’s run for the Arizona attorney general position, a race he narrowly lost. In the texts, Hamadeh appears to deride Republicans who had denied election results as “crazies.”
“No matter what happens, I’m winning right now,” he texted Masters on Jan. 20, 2023. “I’m not lumped in with crazies with election stuff because I’m so close at 280, but the crazies love because they see me fighting. Win win.”
He then sent a picture of himself on vacation in Thailand.
Shortly after the texts were published, Hamadeh railed against Masters on social media, labeling him “Blake ‘The Snake’ Masters.”
“Blake ‘The Snake’ Masters is undermining our election lawsuit, President Trump, Kari Lake, and the entire America First movement,” he said in a post on X, alongside a campaign ad denouncing Masters. “MAGA fights back.”
Hamadeh then reposted a message from his campaign’s “War Room” account, claiming the texts were taken out of context.
“[Hamadeh] has filed three lawsuits, been sanctioned hundreds of thousands of dollars, & been dragged through the press as an ‘election denier,’ & Masters leaks out-of-context private texts to suggest Abe doesn’t believe the election was stolen? Does Masters think anyone is going to fall for this crap?” it read.
“Blake is a coward who is hell-bent on dividing the #MAGA movement & damaging President Trump,” the post continued. “Abe will continue to fight for election integrity, & against people who utterly lack integrity like Blake Masters.”
Hamadeh campaign spokeswoman Erica Knight told the Arizona Republic in a statement that the House candidate was actually using the term in a flattering manner. According to her, Hamadeh “has been labeled a crazy time and time again” and “chooses to laugh about it rather than back down from the fight.”
Masters’s War Room account featured the story about the texts, slamming Hamadeh as a “cynical opportunist who spent 2023 grifting in preparation for his next run for office.”
Masters and Hamadeh are running to replace the retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ). Despite Masters’s endorsement from Trump in his failed 2022 Senate campaign, the former president and close ally Kari Lake have both endorsed Hamadeh in this 2024 race.
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The primary election will be held on July 30.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Masters and Hamadeh for comment.
