Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters doubled down on his election denialism on Wednesday, telling Fox News that he still believes former President Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
With his race against incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) tightening in recent weeks, the ultra-conservative Masters has attempted to distance himself from unpopular right-wing positions and soften his stances on several divisive issues. Notably, the Trump-backed venture capitalist quietly scrubbed a section of his campaign website peddling the “Big Lie” about a “stolen” 2020 election.
“The 2020 election was a rotten mess,” the site read in August. “If we had had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today and America would be so much better off.”
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During his debate with Kelly last week, however, Masters once again embraced the notion that 2020 was rigged against Trump. Rather than cite the widespread voter fraud, the Senate hopeful instead elevated claims popularized by MAGA media that Big Tech and the mainstream press conspired to tamp down negative stories about Biden to aid his victory.
“I suspect that if the FBI didn’t work with Big Tech and Big Media to censor the Hunter Biden crime story,” he said when asked at the debate if the election had been “rigged” against Trump. “Yeah, I suspect that changed a lot of people’s votes.”
Appearing on Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus on Wednesday, Masters was initially pressed by anchor Harris Faulkner on why he had taken down from his website the declaration that the election was stolen from Trump.
“Sixty percent of the country will see somebody on a ballot somewhere who believes that 2020’s election was not fair and that… Joe Biden is not the legitimate winner of the 2020 election,” Faulkner noted. “With that as a backdrop, I know at one point your website featured this statement: ‘If we had a free and fair election President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today.’ That comment no longer sits on your website. Why not?”
Masters immediately replied: “Well, I still believe it. That’s for sure. Like I said in my debate last week, I think if everyone followed the law President Trump would be in the Oval Office.”
He went on to suggest that Twitter temporarily restricting a New York Post story on Hunter Biden and Facebook’s decision to briefly limit the report’s circulation weeks ahead of the election was largely responsible for Biden’s victory.
“Millions didn’t get to read about that in the weeks before the election,” Masters proclaimed. “That one act of corporate and Big Tech censorship sent Biden into the White House.”
Faulkner, meanwhile, said “that’s interesting” since it “has nothing to do with the election process,” adding that Masters was talking about “why it wasn’t fair and what Americans need to know.” At the same time, she still wanted to know why Masters decided to wipe his election denialism from his site.
“One of the people in that debate with you was an independent, and I know it was an issue that he was willing to use against you. Your last thought on that and we’ll move forward,” she stated.
“Like I said, I think states change the rules to flood the zone with mail-in ballots, I think that’s messed up,” he reacted, completely dodging the question. “But I think the biggest problem, Harris, in the 2020 election was Big Tech working with Big Media and apparently being pressured by the FBI to censor true information about Hunter Biden’s crimes. Call me old fashioned, but I think the American people should determine who is president, not Google or Facebook.”
The Fox News anchor, for her part, piggybacked on Masters’ remarks.
“Well, and more evidence to what you’re saying at the federal level: We now know that a former CIA agent, Bret Baier interviewed him last night, he was part of a letter signed saying that he thought it was misinformation about Hunter Biden. At the CIA! Just to pitch into what you are saying right there,” Faulkner declared.
“Blake Masters, good luck this fall,” she added, concluding the interview.
