Blake Masters' campaign took down website posts on D.C. riot, immigration, 2020 election

Controversial comments about the U.S. Capitol riot, an immigration conspiracy theory, and the false claims of a stolen election have disappeared from Republican Senate hopeful Blake Masters' campaign website. Masters is demonstrating that his campaign reboot involved more than removing his views on abortion.

During the Arizona GOP Senate primary, Masters' website urged a stop to "the Biden crime wave" that seemed to cast the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as trespassing. Today, there is no apparent reference to the violent clash between a pro-Trump mob and police at the Capitol.

That change, along with others first reported by CNN, reflects an evolving shift in tone from Masters, as he looks to broaden his appeal beyond Republican voters in his bid to oust Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

The changes came to light after NBC News last week found that Masters had changed his website to reflect his current, less absolutist messaging about abortion rights, which he first laid out in an interview with The Arizona Republic.

Those changes happen as Masters continues to step into the often inflammatory politics of race and sexuality.

A spokesperson for his campaign was unavailable for comment. The Kelly campaign said the changes won't be forgotten.

"Blake Masters can rewrite his entire website if he wants, but Arizonans will still know just how dangerous and out of touch his beliefs really are," said Sarah Guggenheimer, a Kelly campaign spokesperson.

In discussing crime, Masters' website decries what he casts as high crime in Tucson and Phoenix, and says, "Our police are under siege."

His website earlier explained the problem this way:

"This is happening because Democrats like Joe Biden and Mark Kelly have given up enforcing the law. At least selectively: (Black Lives Matter) and Antifa rioters are allowed to burn down buildings with no consequences, but if you wear a (Make America Great Again) hat and step over the line into government property when you're not supposed to, you're treated as a domestic terrorist."

His website now notes that BLM and Antifa are allowed to burn buildings "under Democrat rule," and the portion relating to domestic terrorism is removed.

In another section CNN noted Masters shaved a sentence off his comments about immigration and border security that echoed the great replacement theory, an idea first popular among white nationalists that Democrats want illegal immigrants to keep their party politically viable.

"Joe Biden and Mark Kelly caused this crisis," Masters' site said. "They canceled the Border Wall construction. They invite illegals to come here and give them housing and cash. The Democrats dream of mass amnesty, because they want to import a new electorate."

His site no longer includes the final sentence about importing a new electorate.

In another section, Masters removed language assailing the lack of election integrity.

"The 2020 election was a rotten mess — 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," his website once said.

While Masters' website has tamped down his rhetoric, Masters the candidate has remained a provocateur on social media.

In a tweet Sunday, Masters sarcastically implied racial diversity at the Federal Reserve had damaged the U.S. economy.

Commenting about an Associated Press story noting newfound diversity at the Fed, Masters wrote, "Finally a compelling explanation for why our economy is doing so well."

On Monday, he went further in a video accompanying another tweet.

"Look, I don't care if every single employee at the Fed is a Black lesbian as long as they're hired for their competence, not because of what they look like or who they sleep with. News for Joe Biden: We are done with this affirmative action regime."

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Blake Masters offers new outlook on controversial comments online