(CNN)Arizona Republican Blake Masters, who earned Donald Trump's endorsement for the Senate race by embracing the former President's lies that he won the 2020 election, has turned to questioning whether the 2022 midterm election will be legitimate, as he tries to lock up support among the party faithful ahead of next month's primary.
That the first-time candidate is escalating doubts about the election system in Arizona -- home to a months-long partisan review of 2020 ballots -- is a sign of just how resonant some Republicans continue to believe those lies are with their base, even if similar pitches from Trump-backed candidates failed in Georgia, for example, earlier this year.
But the election denialism that has become a powerful force in Arizona GOP primaries since Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020 has also raised questions about whether a GOP nominee who says Trump won in 2020 can carry a purple state that's crucial to Republicans' hopes of winning Senate control.
Trump's early June endorsement was a turning point in Masters' campaign against businessman Jim Lamon, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and retired Arizona National Guard Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire for the right to take on well-funded Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in November.
But Lamon, who's largely self-funding his campaign, also has ties to election denialism -- touting his efforts to help fund the controversial, partisan audit of the vote in Maricopa County, which failed to prove fraud in the...
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