Arizona Senate race: Libertarian candidate drops out, endorses Blake Masters

Republican Blake Masters is facing Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly in the midterm election

The Libertarian candidate in Arizona’s senate race has dropped out and endorsed his Republican opponent.

Libertarian senatorial candidate Marc Victor, who was polling at 1% in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday, dropped out of the race Tuesday, throwing his weight behind Republican nominee Blake Masters. Masters is facing Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly in the midterm election.

“I’ve said from the very beginning that the reason I’m running for senate is to promote and get us in the direction of freedom and peace and civility,” Victor said in a YouTube video announcing his endorsement.

Victor said at one point in his video, “[Masters] really is — in his heart and in his mind — he’s in favor of doing everything he can to get us very sternly, very smartly in the direction of ‘live and let live.’ And that seems like a good tradeoff to me.”

Masters, who sat down with Victor for a 20-minute recorded phone call on Monday, is hoping the competition-turned-endorsement will give him a boost in the polls.

Kelly leads Masters 51%-45% in the New York Times/Siena College poll, outside the 4.4 percentage point margin of error.