Marc Victor, the Libertarian Party candidate in Arizona for the U.S. Senate, announced today that he will not be running and is supporting Blake Masters, his Republican opponent.
Victor, a lawyer who runs an advocacy organization called the Live and Let Live Revolution, has polled as high as 6 percent in the past eight days, though more typically at 2–3 percent. Masters was eager to appeal for libertarian support at the end of the campaign. He’s currently on an average 3 percentage point lower than Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly.
Masters got an endorsement last week from 1988 L.P. presidential candidate Ron Paul. Dave Smith, the podcaster and likely L.P. 2024 frontrunner for president, also supported Masters. Smith dismissed Victor earlier as a “clown” when the L.P. candidate suggested that the age consent laws might be something that could easily be decided democratically during a televised debate in October featuring all three Arizona Senate contenders. Smith however did not dismiss Victor. revoked the “clown” accusationIn the aftermath of Victor’s endorsement for Masters.
Victor’s campaign raised $128,000. This is a high amount for an L.P. Race. It was mostly from Democratic organizations. They clearly believed he would win votes from Masters. Victor stated today via phone that he can understand why these people would do it, even though it’s dirty politics. However, on the one hand I’m willing to take money from anyone who wants it and put it towards peace and freedom.
Victor points out that neither state nor national L.P. supported Victor and that Victor did not consult any institution regarding his decision. “I got only aggravation from the people of the national party. They tried to make me look awful. “The Mises Caucus didn’t love me.”
Victor claims that “lots and lots of people” emailed him about the possibility of being a spoiler. However, Victor asserts that it isn’t why he left. He says “That stuff doesn’t have any effect on my.” I am not easily intimidated. “I’m an independent guy who does the right thing and what I want.”
Victor seemed to have more to offer than the difference between Mark Kelly and Mark Masters. He had reached out to them both to discuss possible support. Masters agreed to Victor’s demands that all their conversations be openly shared. Victor states that he wanted the conversation to be open and transparent. Victor had promised that if either of the two convinces him that it is in my best interest to freedom or peace, he would do so.
Masters was willing to participate in the interview via video.
Masters talked with Victor about many things, including that he carries around Ludwig Von Mises’s enormous economics tome. Human ActionAs a teenager, he believes in non-aggression principles; that Murray Rothbard was his favorite author; and that he learned from dad that honest money is the only way to have an honest society. He believed in low taxes, a balanced budget, and that foreign policy should be limited to national defense.
Masters has a lot of disagreements with libertarians about his stances regarding immigration, bellicosity towards China (he believes China is to blame and makes vague vows to do so on his campaign site), his passionate public association with neoreactionaries and his belief in government managing the content moderation decisions for private tech companies. He also wants to eliminate Section 230 liability coverage for user-generated contents, make them common carriers and regulate them as such, with federal antitrust powers. Masters wants to declare war on private business policies that are “woke”. Victor did not get Masters to say that he opposes any type of federal drug warfare or the right for individuals to choose their substance use. This was in line with the Libertarian position. However, the Republican highlighted fentanyl and called for federal action.
Justin Amash is the ex-Rep. Justin Amash. He was the first sitting Libertarian to ever serve in Congress. tweeted todayMasters: Masters claims to be a libertarian and Masters, an authoritarian who tries as hard as possible to convince libertarians as well as nationalists that he is one of them. Our disagreements are on issues such as immigration, politics, war, freedom of speech and economics. His desire is for less freedom and greater tyranny in these all areas.
Masters and Victor were close enough to agree that all immigrants should be checked at the border before being allowed in. Victor believes this will be done with a very simple visa process. Victor believes that those already in the country without criminal convictions should be given a path to citizenship.
Masters says he’s 100% against any illegal immigration. But, Masters was more liberal in his youth and believed in “unrestricted”, and that we must have a national dialogue about who and what is allowed into the country. Masters has endorsed Trump and is now part of an international movement to construct a wall at our border, as well as spend more money on border enforcement. Victor spoke with Masters about how to stop “Mexican drug cartels” from turning people into slaves in the United States.
Masters stated that Libertarian voters could find it objectionable that he made a clear-cut declaration at Miami’s National Conservatism Conference that “libertarianism does not work”.
Victor approached Masters to discuss this. It was consistent with Masters’ general supporter, co-author attitude. From Zero to One, Peter Thiel, he told Victor he has come to believe that the fight against an “authoritarian left” demands the control and use of state power to crush that left. The left will take us to “death camps or concentration camps” if we do not fight back.
Victor acknowledges there isn’t 100 percent agreement between them, but given the situation in which he didn’t win, Victor feels that Masters winning is better than Kelly winning.
“Do you believe I would have made a better choice than him?” Victor agrees. He said, “Yes,” Victor added. No. Does he think Kelly is superior? For sure. Do I believe he will be one of America’s best or most respected senators, if he is elected to the Senate? Yeah. And so for me, that’s worth stepping down in and trying to push him to get across the finish line….I think in his heart he understands the non-aggression principle.”
Victor said, “Until people can vote for the candidate they believe is best,” Victor added.
While Emily Goldberg is the chairperson of the Arizona Libertarian Party and both sides agree that Victor had nothing to do with it, she said in a telephone interview that Victor made a decision to “essentially ally with the Republican Party” in Arizona. She says that for many years, the Republican Party has been trying to increase ballot access to squash the L.P. Thousands of Arizona voters want to vote for Libertarians and that Victor’s move “disenfranchises these people, and I cannot forgive him.”
Victor will remain on the ballot. Many people have already voted so there is still the possibility that Victor gets some votes. He admits that “a lot of people are upset” that he is withdrawing. He said, “But, you all know that I make the best decisions for the cause.