Ex-Rep. Franks apologizes for 2017 scandal as Masters, Hamadeh clash in debate
Bitter and at times mocking barbs between two congressional candidates, Abe Hamadeh and Blake Masters, punctuated a debate among the GOP hopefuls running to replace the outgoing U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko.
The Arizona PBS debate on Tuesday showed mounting tensions between rivals Hamadeh, who has received former President Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement in the race, and Masters, whose multimillion-dollar personal loan has left him with by far the most campaign cash.
Hamadeh first went after Masters after a question directed at former U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., over the scandal that caused the former representative to resign from Congress in 2017.
After saying little about the controversy for years, Franks on Tuesday apologized for approaching House staff members about acting as a surrogate for him and his wife, saying it was "totally inappropriate for me as someone who had supervisorial oversight over an employee" and that he regrets his behavior.
Masters redirected the conversation to a previous topic, state Sen. Anthony Kern's recent indictment over his role in a plan to falsely certify that Trump won Arizona’s 2020 presidential election. Masters said he would show up in court as a “character witness” to defend Kern, R-Glendale, who has dismissed the indictment as a politically motivated “sham,” a view that his competitors have endorsed.
That’s when Hamadeh pounced on Masters, gesturing to the 2022 election cycle when Hamadeh ran for Arizona attorney general and Masters ran for the U.S. Senate, both unsuccessfully.
“We campaigned together in the last election and you claimed we were friends back then. And now you’re running hundreds of thousands of dollars of negative ads, because you’re being funded by your Big Tech, billionaire friends,” Hamadeh said. “I don’t think you really care about CD 8.”
He took a second jab at Masters when the conversation turned to the projected funding shortfall in the Social Security program.
After Franks argued that the country’s wider economic growth and its fiscal woes are linked, Hamadeh brought up a comment Masters made while running for Senate about privatizing Social Security.
Masters said in 2022 that the government can’t just "pull the rug out from seniors who are currently receiving Social Security or receiving Medicare,” continuing, “We need fresh and innovative thinking. Maybe we should privatize Social Security. Private retirement accounts, get the government out of it."
He walked back those remarks soon after and said he regretted using the term “privatize.”
Masters responded that Hamadeh was taking his remarks out of context and said he had only “mused” about the idea.
“I looked into that. It’s not a good idea. We shouldn’t do it,” Masters said. “I’ve always been clear. No cuts ever.”
At that remark Hamadeh accused his rival of “Tucson tricks,” a reference to the fact that Masters until recently resided in Tucson, well outside the West Valley-area district he is running to represent.
Masters punched back when the conversation turned to abortion, a topic that has dominated state politics since the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a territorial era, near-total ban on the procedure.
Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Glendale, who has been endorsed by the outgoing Lesko, R-Ariz., was first to respond to the moderator’s question. He would vote in favor of a federal ban on abortion and is "100% pro-life," Toma said.
Masters then reprised criticism he has leveled at Hamadeh, who, like Trump, has declined to back a federal ban on abortion. Hamadeh said at the debate he believes such a law would be unconstitutional.
"Do you believe California and Oregon should be allowed to just let — anything goes? That’s your position?” said Masters, who is backing a 15-week federal ban.
Hamadeh responded, “I believe it’s up to the states. That’s what President Trump’s position is.”
A tiff then emerged between Kern and Toma, whose campaign rivalry has spilled out into their work in the two chambers of the Arizona Legislature.
Kern charged that Toma could have stopped the Arizona House from repealing the 1864 ban last week. The state Senate voted Wednesday to do the same.
Toma responded in a withering tone, saying he had made an effort to block the repeal.
“I kind of feel sorry for you, to be perfectly honest, because you can’t seem to count to 31,” the number of votes needed to pass legislation in the Arizona House, Toma said.
Toma previously has criticized Kern’s hardline style of governance, arguing for a more pragmatic approach.
Kern shot back that Toma allowed the measure to pass in order to help a vulnerable member’s reelection prospects.
“You voted to push it through just because you’re in a ruby-red district, and to allow (state Rep.) Matt Gress … because he’s in the swing district,” Kern said. “You should never have let a Democrat bill be first read, and second read.”
Bills introduced in the state Legislature are reviewed, or “first” and “second read,” as a standard practice, though not all of them are brought to the floor for a vote. Toma pointed that out to Kern.
“Anthony, every bill is first read and second read,” Toma replied. “I hate to break it to you. I know you’ve been there a long time but you don’t seem to understand the basics.”
During his concluding statement, Masters dropped a litany of oblique attacks on Hamadeh, including a nod to the fact that Hamadeh's father was not in the U.S. legally when the candidate was born, a line of criticism Hamadeh has called "nasty" and an attempt to "question my beautiful family."
Laura Gersony covers national politics for The Arizona Republic. Contact her at [email protected] or 480-372-0389.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trent Franks apologizes for scandal as Republican CD8 rivals clash