Arizona Republican candidate Blake Masters is taking a strong and principled stance on abortion by scrubbing his campaign website of his previous calls for tough restrictions ahead of the general election — sarcasm intended.
In an ad posted on Twitter on Thursday, Masters said he holds “commonsense” views on the issue of abortion.
“Look, I support a ban on very late-term and partial-birth abortion,” Masters said of his views. “And most Americans agree with that. That would just put us on par with other civilized nations.”
NBC News reported on Thursday, “Just after it released the ad, Masters’ campaign published an overhaul of his website and softened his rhetoric, rewriting or erasing five of his six positions.”
“NBC News took screenshots of the website before and after it was changed. Masters’ website appeared to have been refreshed after NBC News reached out for clarification about his abortion stances,” it added.
NEW: Blake Masters' campaign scrubbed the abortion section of his policy page
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) August 25, 2022
It's the latest sign of how abortion rights are shifting the political landscape
Screenshots of before and after
w/@MarcACaputo https://t.co/16Jy9spNY6 pic.twitter.com/U8HYBTwwmm
There was a line on his website that stated, “I am 100% pro-life.” However, that has since been deleted.
Another section that was removed called for a “federal personhood law (ideally a Constitutional amendment) that recognizes that unborn babies are human beings that may not be killed.”
NBC also reports that before Thursday, “Masters’ website included this pledge: ‘Strip taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, all other abortionists, and any organization that promotes abortion.'”
“Now the sentence no longer mentions ‘abortionists’ — a term coined by abortion rights opponents — nor ‘any organization that promotes abortion,'” it adds.
The move to revamp his abortion stance comes after Democrat Pat Ryan won an upset victory in the special election for New York’s 19th Congressional district where abortion was a major issue. That came after a ballot measure that would have allowed restrictions on abortion in Kansas was soundly rejected earlier this month.
The results of those elections have led some to believe that the overturning of Roe v. Wade is energizing pro-choice voters in ways that could threaten Republicans’ electoral prospects.
Perhaps Masters is hoping that he can cast himself as a more moderate candidate as more voters pay attention to elections after Labor Day — which has been seen as an unofficial start to the fall campaign season.
That might have worked in 1984. But the internet is forever, and voters can easily look up what Masters has said on the issue of abortion and very easily find his previous policy positions — even if he changes his campaign website.
It raises the question about which Blake Masters is the real Blake Masters: The one who supports tough abortion restrictions or the one who is represented on his campaign website now.
He also just gave Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) ammunition to attack him as a flip-flopper who will change his stance based on which way the wind is blowing.
Maybe Masters wants to argue that his views have genuinely evolved since he won the primary. But by changing his campaign stances, he appears to be a typical spineless politician who cares more about winning than principle.