Arizona Libertarian and U.S. Senate candidate Marc Victor is ending his campaign. He asked Arizona Libertarians to back Trump-endorsed Republican Senate Candidate Blake Masters.
For more: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/libertarian-u-senate-candidate-drops-130032227.html
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/arizona-senate-race-libertarian-candidate-drops-out-endorses-blake-masters
Master’s website https://www.blakemasters.com/ takes a few positions. We quote the full position statement:
The Masters Plan
The Democrats in power have failed us. Joe Biden and his sidekick Mark Kelly have delivered chaos at our Border, skyrocketing inflation, failing schools, and widespread wokeness. They’ve quickly made America dangerous and unaffordable.
You’d think they’d feel bad about it. But they don’t. The ruling class has given up on America. They have given up on you. It’s because the Left believes that our country is fundamentally and irredeemably evil. That’s why they denounce it and loot it. They want America to be unrecognizable. They want to destroy who we are.
But there’s good news: we the people are waking up. This November, Arizona can lead our country back to the path of greatness. But if we want to win, we need new leaders who will be bold and independent — who will fight like the future of America depends on it. Because it does.
I’m Blake Masters. I’m a Christian, husband, father, gun owner, and businessman. I grew up in Arizona, and I hate what is happening to it. I put my business career on hold to run for the U.S. Senate because I uniquely understand the modern threats that we face today. We will take on the unholy alliance between Big Government, Big Tech, and Big Business. And we will win.
With your help, I’m going to beat liberal Mark Kelly this November. And together, we will make Arizona and America safe, prosperous, and free.
Looking for another story on Libertarians endorsing in the duopoly? In Texas, the current AG candidate has endorsed the Democrat because he’s that worried about Ken Paxton. Erm, you didn’t think of that 6 months ago? https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2022/10/27/libertarian-mark-ash-endorses-rochelle-garza-over-ken-paxton-in-texas-ag-race/
“Is Marc Victor a member of the Mises Caucus by any chance?”
Not that I know of. Prominent Mises Caucus persons (like Dave Smith) complained about him and endorsed Masters over him when he was still running.
Fortunately, early voting started in Arizona on October 12, so much of the Libertarian vote is hopefully already in.
I don’t have any great love for Mark Kelly, but now I hope he wins so that Victor’s dropout doesn’t get the desired results and tempt future Libertarian candidates to let themselves be bullied into pulling this kind of shit again.
I thought campaigning for Republicans does not count as third party-ish…
Lol, joking
What a jerk.
The biggest refrain we hear as Libertarians are that we’re closet Republicans, and we try to refute that until we’re out of breath and then this yutz drops out and endorses a Reich-wing Republican. He’s just set the cause back *years* here in Arizona. Frankly, it might just be easier for me to move to another state than it will be to try and pick up the pieces from the damage he’s done.
I have never heard of Mark Victor being associated with the Mises Caucus group. Momentarily I plan to mark my ballot for Blake Masters.
I was born in Arizona. I grew up in Arizona. I live in Arizona. I have never seen more coverage of the Libertarian Party candidate in the last 12 years than this cycle. There are at least seven other statewide offices that other Libertarians could have placed in if they had the money, the time and the effort to do so. We had a candidate for Attorney General that failed to be placed on the general election ballot due to a lack of money, a lack of time and a lack of volunteer effort.
I managed to qualify for the general election ballot as the State Treasurer candidate of the Arizona Libertarian Party in 2010.
The pilot light of the Libertarian Party is barely flickering here in Arizona. Will this kerfuffle motivate citizens here in Arizona to put their labor and money into backing Libertarian candidates in 2024?
Time will tell.
This is sad. Marc Victor was a good candidate – he received 4.5% in 2012 when the Republican nomimee was Jeff Flake, much more libertarian than Blake Masters.
Also, Marc Victor was the first Libertarian Party candidate on the ballot since the Republican controlled legislature made it harder for Libertarians to file in their own primary. We can hope that many Arizona Libertarians ignore this news and go ahead and vote for Marc Victor.
Is Marc Victor a member of the Mises Caucus by any chance?
The irony is he was highlighted in an email the national party sent out yesterday. I received it in my mailbox at 4:56pm eastern time in an example for “Donate to Candidate Support”. So it was not 24 hours later. The other candidate highlighted was a Peter Solie for Kansas State House. I know nothing about him or the quality of his candidacy so will give him benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile Jeff Maurer in Indiana based on polling has a realistic chance of getting 10% for Secretary of State, which if he achieved that would change the state electorally of per state law, Libertarians would be classified as a major party in the state, meaning they get access to the state primary and information on everyone that takes out that ballot. If Maurer finishes 2nd in a county as 2020 Governor nominee Donald Rainwater did in a third of the state’s counties, the Libertarian gets a seat on the county election board.
Meanwhile Marshall Burt in Wyoming is running for a 2nd term with other Libertarians looking to join him.
Meanwhile we have candidates out the wazoo in Alabama after their 1st time on the ballot.
Marc Victor will remain on the ballot despite dropping out of the race. His actions are reminiscent of the Green Party candidate in 2018 who dropped out and endorsed then-Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. It’s also worth noting that the Green candidate in that Senate campaign still earned 2.41% of the total vote.