Blake Masters revives right-wing abortion, immigration arguments he scrubbed from website

Republican Blake Masters is reviving conservative campaign trail arguments he once dialed back while running statewide for U.S. Senate now that he is running for a congressional seat in a Republican-friendly district.

Masters, who is hoping to replace the retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., in the 8th Congressional District, argues the differences are in his “tone” rather than substantive policy shifts.

During his previous Senate campaign in 2022, Masters softened several positions he had staked out on his website during the competitive GOP primary race after he had his party’s nomination in hand. Among other changes, he scrubbed several bullet points backing more stringent abortion legislation and instead stated his support for a third-trimester federal ban. And he removed controversial language related to immigration.

He was adhering to a long tradition of Arizona Republicans who often ran to the right to win their primary and then pivoted toward the center to appeal to the more moderate electorate that votes in statewide general elections.

By contrast, in a debate last week with other Republican candidates, Masters expressed support for federal abortion restrictions as early as 12 weeks or 15 weeks, around the start of the second trimester of pregnancy, and reiterated the belief on immigration he once cut from his website.

Candidates frequently shift their messaging between election cycles, though it is unusual to update their positions on major issues.

Masters likened the changes to tweaks in a stump speech, the quick pitch to voters that politicians deliver while on the campaign trail.

“It’s like if you show up to hear me do a stump one time, (versus) the next time. Maybe it’s a different part of CD 8, maybe the audience is going to be slightly more interested in hearing about a different issue set. But it’s all consistent,” Masters said.

So where does Blake Masters stand on abortion rights?

While running for his party’s nomination in the 2022 Senate race, Masters’ website touted his staunchly pro-life policy platform. It described him as "100% pro-life"; stated his support for several pieces of abortion-related legislation, including one that would make abortion a crime starting 20 weeks after conception; and backed a federal fetal personhood law, which confers legal rights starting at conception.

After he won the primary, Masters removed or edited several of those bullet points. His new website instead said that he supports a third-trimester abortion ban, which occurs around 28 weeks into pregnancy, and creating programs that make it easier for families to support a new child.

“The federal government should prohibit late-term abortion, third-trimester abortion and partial-birth abortion,” he elaborated in an interview with The Arizona Republic at the time. "Below that, states are going to make different decisions that are going to reflect the will of the people in those states, and I think that's reasonable. I think that’s what most people certainly in this state and nationwide are looking for."

At a debate with other candidates last week, Masters said he would support an even tighter federal law.

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“We’ll do the best we can at the federal level, whether it’s a 15-week or 12-week, whatever we can get passed,” Masters said when asked about the topic of abortion. He also defended a remark in which he called abortion-rights activists “demonic.”

In an interview, Masters said those positions are "not at all" inconsistent.

“If I’m in Congress, and it’s between a third-trimester bill and nothing, well, hey, I’m going to sign onto that third-trimester bill," he said. “I believe in every policy I’ve ever put on the website, and they’re all consistent."

Masters wrote in a follow-up statement that his consistency on the issue "seems so clear that I regard any suggestion to the contrary as being made in bad faith for partisan reasons."

“The median voter in Arizona might be more OK with a third-trimester bill than, say, a 15-week bill, and that's just a reality of living in a swing state," he said. "But again, I think we do the best we can, and I don’t think we let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

He said the greater contrast was between himself and Abe Hamadeh, a leading GOP rival for the seat who said during the debate that abortion should be regulated at the state level.

Hamadeh and Masters both have been aligned with former President Donald Trump in the past, though Hamadeh has secured Trump's endorsement in the 8th Congressional District race.

Masters echoes 'Great Replacement Theory': 'The Dems are trying to replace you'

At last week’s debate, Masters also revived rhetoric on immigration that he once scrapped from his website.

While running for the Senate in 2022, he promoted the factually dubious claim that the Democrats have a plot to diminish the political power of current U.S. citizens. The view was criticized widely at the time for echoing the Great Replacement Theory, an idea first popular among white nationalists.

“Joe Biden and (Democratic Sen.) Mark Kelly caused this crisis. 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 website read before the 2022 GOP primary, according to a CNN review.

After the primary, Masters cut the last sentence from his website.

In the Feb. 20 debate, he brought it up during his 3-minute-long opening remarks.

“The Dems are trying to replace you. They’re trying to steal your vote by diluting you with millions of third-world, illegal aliens,” Masters said.

Masters argued that those shifts were a matter of emphasis and that his views on the topic have not changed. During his 2022 primary race, he said, the top concern for GOP voters was illegal immigration, followed by the economy. In the general election, it was the opposite, he said, causing him to shift his emphasis.

“Just like a stump speech before a general election might be different, you might have a different focus, you might have a different tone," he said.

“I think history has backed me up on this: I’m always outspoken. I’m very conservative, some people thought too conservative to win the swing state of Arizona, statewide. I’ve never shied away from my extremely conservative, right-wing views.”

Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Reach her at lgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Blake Masters resuming far right abortion, immigration positions