On Monday, retired Army captain Sam Brown, who was severely burnt by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, declared his intention to run against Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in Nevada’s Republican primary election this November.
The American Dream is in jeopardy right now. To bring Americans together and find solutions, as Joe Biden and Jacky Rosen have pledged. To accommodate special interests in Washington, they have instead “abandoned Nevada and divided America with extreme policies,” as Brown put it in a statement. I promise to get things done for Nevada as your Senator. I’m back and ready to lead and defend you.
With Brown on board, the Republicans gain a formidable new supporter in one of 2024’s most potentially difficult states. Democrats control a razor-thin Senate majority and are protecting the vast majority of seats that polls indicate will be competitive next year. This includes three seats in states that former President Donald Trump won by a wide margin. Both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections in Nevada were decided by very slim margins.
“Nevada is always a battleground, and this Senate race will be on the toughest in the country,” Rosen said in a video released in April declaring her bid for a second term.
After serving in the House for a suburban Las Vegas seat for a time, Rosen defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Dean Heller in 2018. According to The Nevada Independent, her campaign claimed a record-breaking $7.5 million war chest as of the conclusion of the second quarter.
Brown made his political debut in Nevada during the 2022 election cycle, when his grass-roots Senate campaign won over voters with the slogan “duty first” on his way to a runner-up result in the Republican primary. Former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who came out on top, narrowly lost the general election to Democratic challenger Catherine Cortez Masto.
Brown would need to win what might be a close GOP primary before he could challenge Rosen. His most prominent opponent is former state Assemblyman Jim Marchant, who ran unsuccessfully for US House in 2020 and for Nevada secretary of state in 2022 while repeating discredited conspiracy theories about election fraud.
The Republican primary will show if the party’s base is still looking for people who would support election denialism, like Marchant, or if they want someone who can win over independents.
Brown is still relatively inexperienced in politics. In 2014, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Texas legislature. Before his 2022 Senate campaign gained steam in the primary’s final months, he played a very minor role in Nevada politics, where he relocated in 2018.
