Arizona Senate Candidate Courts Moderate Voters in Late-Campaign Pivot

Katie SpenceOctober 12, 2022

Arizona’s Senate candidates are looking to sway voters to their side and appeal to moderates in a state that’s been more purple than red in the past two elections.

As part of this endeavor, Arizona’s current Senator, Mark Kelly, squared off against Republican challenger and political newcomer Blake Masters in a contentious debate that saw the candidates answering questions on inflation, the border, abortion, election integrity, and President Joe Biden.

Republican U.S. senatorial candidate Blake Masters speaks during his election night watch party in Chandler, Ariz., on Aug. 2, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Masters has taken a hard-core Trump supporter stance in the past, while Kelly has continually courted moderates by highlighting his willingness to work across the aisle. But the Oct. 6 debate saw Masters softening his stance on issues like abortion and election integrity and blasting Kelly as a far-left candidate, not a moderate, by pointing to his partisan voting record.

Further showing he’s aware of Arizona’s more moderate political climate, Masters scrubbed his campaign website of past references to his early MAGA support, his “100 percent” pro-life stance, and his view that if elections were “fair, ” Donald Trump would be president. Positions that were listed on his website as late as Aug. 18, according to website archives.

Inflation Reduction Act and the Border

Neither Kelly nor Masters has refrained from publicly attacking the other on issues like abortion, inflation, and the border. But the debate was the first and only time the two met in person to discuss their differences.

The first question went to Kelly and centered on inflation and what he’s done to help control rising costs while in Washington. To highlight his independence, Kelly stated he’d worked to reduce oil prices by telling Biden he was “wrong” not to increase oil and gas production.

Masters minced no words when he