Republican senate candidate Blake Masters speaks at his election night watch party in Chandler, Ariz., on Aug. 2. || Brandon Bell / Getty Images file
By Ronald J. Hansen || Arizona Republic
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters rebooted his campaign website Thursday, removing his “100% pro-life” message with a new one emphasizing limits on abortion rights.
Masters’ changes, first reported by NBC News, continue a rhetorical shift on the issue underway since he clinched the Republican nomination in the Aug. 2 primary in his bid to oust Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
Masters had called Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that guaranteed federal abortion rights, a “horrible” decision on his website, but now calls it a “bad” one.
The changes come as Republicans have seen voters in historically conservative Kansas reject an effort to allow lawmakers to roll back abortion rights, and after a surprise Democratic victory this week in a special congressional election in New York where abortion was a key issue.
The Supreme Court’s June ruling that erased federal abortion rights has infused new energy for Democrats in the midterm elections and sent Republicans backtracking.
The Masters campaign did not immediately elaborate on the website changes. He launched a digital ad Thursday addressing abortion, in which he says, “Most people support commonsense regulation around abortion.”
The Kelly campaign said Masters is trying to rewrite his history.
