Libertarian candidate drops out, endorses Blake Masters for Arizona Senate

Blake Masters.
(Image credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Marc Victor, the Libertarian candidate running for Arizona Senate, dropped out of the race Tuesday and endorsed Republican Blake Masters, offering the GOP nominee a key "lift heading into the final week" of the 2022 midterms, The New York Times reports.

The backing from Victor "is another major boost of momentum as we consolidate our support," Masters, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D), told the Times.

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Masters and Victor spoke on the phone for roughly 20 minutes on Monday. Victor had notably "made such a conversation a precondition to quitting, technically offering such an opportunity both to [Masters] and to [Kelly]," the Times writes. The Libertarian candidate was polling at just 1 percent, according to the most recent New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday.

Early voting is already underway in Arizona, where Kelly is currently leading Masters by 3 points, per FiveThirtyEight's updating polling average.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.