Fealty to Trump defines Republican Senate primary in Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — An interviewer asked Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters to pick a “subversive thinker" whom people should know more about.

Masters gave it some thought and came up with a risky response for someone running for elected office.

He picked the Unabomber.

“I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this,” Masters responded. “How about, like, Theodore Kaczynski?”

Masters was careful to point out he doesn’t condone the bombings that killed three people and injured dozens between 1978 and 1995 and terrorized the nation until Kaczynski’s arrest in 1996. But Master's March interview on an obscure podcast is emblematic of the provocative style that has helped the 35-year-old first-time candidate connect with the segment of Republican primary voters eager to confront Democrats, technology companies and other enemies of the right in the midterm elections.

Boosted by Donald Trump’s endorsement, Masters is gobbling up most of the attention in a primary defined above all else by fealty to the former president. The winner of Tuesday's election will take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, one of the GOP’s top targets.

The primary does not fit easily into the Trump vs. GOP establishment pattern that has defined so many contests this year, including the race for Arizona governor. All the major candidates aggressively sought Trump's imprimatur and have not been shy about advancing his false claims of election fraud from the 2020 presidential election. GOP Gov. Doug Ducey declined to run and the party’s mainstream has not coalesced around any particular candidate.

Masters faces businessman Jim Lamon, who founded and sold a solar energy company, and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who started the race as the best-known candidate but has been weighed down by fierce...