2022 Arizona U.S. Senate race: The candidates
Here are the candidates for Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat in the 2022 midterms.
Senior Sen. Kyrsten Sinema won’t be up for reelection until 2024.
Mark Brnovich
Brnovich for U.S. Senate
Mark Brnovich
Party: Republican
Website: brnoforaz.com
Arizona’s attorney general spent much of the campaign courting former President Donald Trump’s nomination — that meant entertaining and officially investigating conspiracies of election fraud and a debunked report to the Arizona Senate’s so-called audit. But it wasn’t enough to please Trump, and Brnovich has begun to suffer in some polls while courting the far right for the GOP nomination. Along the way, Mark Brnovich has been criticized for politicizing his duties as attorney general in ways that benefit his U.S. Senate campaigns — accusations that doomed his predecessor, former Attorney General Tom Horne.
Mark Kelly
Mark Kelly for Senate
Mark Kelly
Party: Democrat
Website: markkelly.com
The incumbent, Mark Kelly won a special election in 2020 to serve the final two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s term in office. Now he’s running for reelection to serve a full six-year term. The American astronaut never ran for office before winning the election two years ago, but politics runs in the family — his wife is former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who served southern Arizona in Congress before she was injured in a 2011 mass shooting. Kelly holds a strong fundraising advantage over his GOP challengers, and faces no opponents in the Democratic primary.
Jim Lamon
Jim Lamon
Party: Republican
Website: jimlamon.com
A largely self-funded candidate, Jim Lamon has burst into the lead for the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate in recent months thanks in large part to his wealth — he reportedly spent $3.8 million on advertisements so far ahead of Arizona’s Aug. 2 primary. The retired energy executive has made a splash in other ways, like an ad aired during the Super Bowl that depicted him in an Old West gunfight with President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly – whose wife, former representative Gabrielle Giffords, was injured during a 2011 mass shooting.
Blake Masters
Thiel Fellowship
Blake Masters
Party: Republican
Website: blakemasters.com
The Peter Theil acolyte may be running behind in most polls, but he appears to be No. 1 for the races’ most coveted endorsement — that of former President Donald Trump. Masters’ candidacy may well depend on the whims of Trump, but he’s at least assured financial support from his longtime business partner, Thiel, a billionaire tech investor — dollars that make him at least a formidable candidate. This is the first time Blake Masters has ever run for office.
Michael “Mick” McGuire
McGuire For Arizona
Retired Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire is running for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Party: Republican
Website: electmick.com
Michael “Mick” McGuire is a retired Air Force major general who served as the Adjutant General of the Arizona National Guard since 2013. In that role, he helped lead Arizona’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. McGuire retired last year to run for U.S. Senate as a self–proclaimed “constitutional conservative.”
Justin Olson
Justin Olson For Senate
Justin Olson
Party: Republican
Website: votejustinolson.com
A late entrant into the U.S. Senate race, Justin Olson has dominated the bottom of the polls since he jumped into the fray in October. Olson currently serves on the Arizona Corporation Commission, a state entity responsible for regulating utility companies. He’s also the former chief finance officer for Turning Point USA, a conservative and pro-Trump student organization.