Blake Masters

For the screenwriter, see Blake Masters (screenwriter).

Blake Masters
Masters in 2022
Born
Blake Gates Masters

(1986-08-05) August 5, 1986 (age 38)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BA, JD)
Occupations
  • Venture capitalist
  • author
Employer(s)Thiel Capital, Thiel Foundation (former)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseCatherine Blanton[1]
Children4

Blake Gates Masters (born August 5, 1986) is an American venture capitalist and former political candidate.[2][3] Frequently referred to as a protégé of businessman Peter Thiel,[4] Masters co-wrote Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future with Thiel in 2014, based on notes Masters had taken at Stanford Law School in 2012. He later served as chief operating officer (COO) of Thiel's investment firm, Thiel Capital, as well as president of the Thiel Foundation.

In the 2022 United States Senate election in Arizona, Masters defeated state Attorney General Mark Brnovich and businessman Jim Lamon to become the Republican Party nominee. He aligned himself with Thiel, who funded his primary campaign with $15 million, and former president Donald Trump, both of whom endorsed him in June 2022.[5] During his campaign, Masters promoted writings by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and white supremacist Sam Francis, and touted his endorsement of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.[2]

Masters lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly.[6] Masters received the fewest votes among all statewide Republican candidates in the 2022 Arizona elections. The Washington Post called him one of the "worst candidates of the 2022 election."[7]

Masters ran for the U.S. House in 2024 for Arizona's 8th congressional district.[8][9] He lost the Republican primary to Abraham Hamadeh, coming in second.[10]

  1. ^ Ceron, Ella (August 29, 2022). "Arizona GOP Senate Candidate Suggests Fed Diversity to Blame for Economic Woes". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Dent, Alec (October 14, 2022). "The Right's Quiet Uncanceling of a Dead White Supremacist". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Kaczynski, Andrew; Steck, Em (August 29, 2022). "Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters scrubbed language on campaign website saying the 2020 election was stolen from Trump". CNN. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  4. ^ Sources that call Masters a protégé of Thiel include:
  5. ^ Swan, Jonathan; Kraushaar, Josh (October 12, 2022). "Billionaire Peter Thiel offers to double down on Arizona Senate race to boost Blake Masters". Axios. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  6. ^ A 501tax-exempt; NW, charitable organization 1300 L. St; Washington, Suite 200; Dc 20005857-0044. "Arizona Senate 2022 Race". OpenSecrets. Retrieved November 14, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Blake, Aaron (November 30, 2022). "Analysis | The worst candidates of the 2022 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  8. ^ Huynh, Anjali (October 26, 2023). "Blake Masters Announces Run for Congress, Skipping New Senate Bid". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  9. ^ "Former Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters is running for Congress". NBC News. October 27, 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  10. ^ Metzger, Bryan (July 31, 2024). "Blake Masters, a close ally of JD Vance and Peter Thiel, just lost another election". Business Insider.