Bulletins

Thiel ally Blake Masters is running for Senate in Arizona

US capitol building

U.S. Senate

Photo: Al Drago/Getty Images

Venture capitalist Blake Masters announced his run for Senate in Arizona Monday. In his announcement video, Masters, who is chief operating officer of Thiel Capital, strikes a distinctly anti-tech tone, saying that "the internet, which was supposed to give us an awesome future, is instead being used to shut us up."

Masters's bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly makes him the second close ally of Peter Thiel to announce his run for the Senate recently. In Ohio, "Hillbilly Elegy" author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance is also running for Sen. Rob Portman's seat. Vance has leaned heavily on the techlash in his campaign, accusing Google of hiding his website and criticizing companies for "censoring" conservatives.

Despite their anti-tech rhetoric, both Masters and Vance are backed by tech billionaire and Facebook board member Thiel, who has donated $10 million to super PACs supporting each candidate, according to POLITICO.

Issie Lapowsky

Issie Lapowsky ( @issielapowsky) is Protocol's chief correspondent, covering the intersection of technology, politics, and national affairs. She also oversees Protocol's fellowship program. Previously, she was a senior writer at Wired, where she covered the 2016 election and the Facebook beat in its aftermath. Prior to that, Issie worked as a staff writer for Inc. magazine, writing about small business and entrepreneurship. She has also worked as an on-air contributor for CBS News and taught a graduate-level course at New York University's Center for Publishing on how tech giants have affected publishing.

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