GOP Names Failed Candidate Masters To Election Autopsy Panel

Masters, who embraced former President Donald Trump, made bigoted remarks, and pushed right-wing policies, was unpopular with independent voters.

According to the New York Times, Steven Law — the head of the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC that has close ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — told major Republican donor Peter Thiel that Masters had giv the worst performance before focus groups that he had ever observed. Focus groups are often used to gauge voter sentiments ahead of an election.

Election experts said Masters is a prime example of a bad candidate losing a race that should have been winnable for the GOP in the 2022 midterms.

"The problem in Arizona was Blake Masters himself," the Cook Political Report's Jessica Taylor tweeted.

Some Republicans were not happy that Masters was included on the new GOP advisory panel.

"The fact that Blake Masters is a part of the panel running this autopsy and not a subject of it seems highly problematic," Amanda Carpenter, a Republican who has become a prominent anti-Trump commentator, tweeted.

"What on earth is a candidate who underperformed most of the Rs in his state, a state where Rs lost almost every statewide race, advising his party on its path forward," GOP columnist Noah Rothman tweeted. "What would he have to offer on that score?"

David Bergstein, the communications director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Masters' role on the panel was "excellent news for Democrats."

"Put Blake Masters in charge of every GOP Senate campaign, I say," Bergstein tweeted.

According to Politico, Masters wants Republicans to change their strategies going forward.

"Our party needs to modernize. We're fighting against Big Tech, the media, and now, the Democrats' GOTV early voting machine," Masters toldPolitico. "I look forward to working with Ronna [McDaniel, chair of the RNC] to make sure the party effectively supports our candidates and wins big in 2024."