Blake Masters, a top aide to billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel, entered the Republican field of candidates Monday hoping to unseat Democratic U.S.

Blake Masters enters GOP Senate race, saying age, political experience ‘overrated’

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2021-07-12 14:00:06

Blake Masters, a top aide to billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel, entered the Republican field of candidates Monday hoping to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022.

Masters, a 34-year-old Tucson resident and first-time candidate who has been mulling a Senate run since 2019, plans to play up his youth and business experience in his pitch to voters.

“There’s a youthness and a freshness, fresh perspective that we really badly need, and that’s what I bring to the table,” he told The Arizona Republic ahead of his announcement.

“Experience matters, and doing stuff in the real world matters, and I think at 34 years old I’ve done a lot and have succeeded in a lot of various things. … Being a conventional politician and being in office forever is sort of overrated.”

Masters joins Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich; solar power executive Jim Lamon; and Michael “Mick” McGuire, the retired adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard in the GOP primary field.