Army Veteran Launches Bid for Key Nevada Senate Seat That GOP Hopes to Flip

Nevada Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown speaks to media after voting at Reno High School in Reno, Nev., Tuesday, June 14, 2022. AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes

He came out of nowhere, a never-elected Nevada newcomer and former Army infantry officer horribly wounded in Afghanistan, running a no-name campaign in the Republican primary for U.S. Senator against a political veteran with a polished resume and a well-known family name.

But as his grassroots ‘Duty First’ campaign traveled the dusty backwaters of the state, Sam Brown—or, as he became widely known, Capt. Sam Brown—gained traction, drew donors, and earned the Nevada Republican Party Committee’s endorsement in his June 2022 GOP primary against the heavily-favored Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general.

In the end, Mr. Brown garnered nearly 34 percent of the primary vote, falling by more than 20 percentage points to Laxalt, who would go on to lose narrowly to incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) the following November.

Despite the defeat, Mr. Brown earned admiration within the state’s GOP and—polls indicated—enjoyed support from some Democrats, especially veterans.

That strong 2022 primary performance, as well as his perceived broader appeal in general elections, made Mr. Brown widely rumored to be among the top choices of the state and national Republican parties to take on incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in 2024.

That buzz was fueled in recent days by Mr. Brown’s own social media in which he sounded very much like a candidate, noting in a July 6 post that, “Nevadans see the damage caused by failed politicians, who serve special interests instead of listening to you and me. Their message to me has been loud and clear: they want someone to stand up for them and lead. It’s time to unite and take back our state.”

On July 6 he also invited followers to a “special announcement” on Monday, a day he began with a Twitter post acknowledging he was running for the Senate.

“The cat is out of the bag,” Mr. Brown wrote. “In the military, no one asks you what party you’re in. They just want to know that they can count on you to fight alongside them. I’m ready to lead and fight for Nevadans again.”

He followed that up in mid-afternoon with his official announcement.

“Right now, the American dream is at risk. Joe Biden and Jacky Rosen promised to unite Americans and solve problems. Instead, they’ve abandoned Nevada and divided America with extreme policies to satisfy special interests in Washington,” Mr. Brown said.

As he had earlier, he referenced his military background in working with different constituencies in getting missions accomplished.

“I know our mission to restore the American dream is achievable if we work together,” Mr. Brown said. ”That’s the attitude we need to tackle the problems of today.”

As of July 10, Brown is the fourth Republican to throw his hat into Nevada’s 2024 GOP Senate race. Others on the GOP slate are former state legislator Jim Marchant, who was defeated in his Trump-endorsed 2022 secretary of state bid, civil rights attorney Ronda Kennedy, and real estate broker Stephanie Phillips.

Sam Brown, who impressed many—including Democrats—during his 2022 US Senate campaign, has tossed his hat in the ring for Nevada's 2024 US Senate race. Courtesy of Brown's campaign

Senate GOP Backs Brown

Hours before Mr. Brown’s official announcement, his candidacy was lauded in a statement by National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

“Sam Brown’s life of service and sacrifice is an inspiration to all Americans. I am very pleased that Sam is stepping up to run for the U.S. Senate,” Mr. Daines said.

Mr. Brown’s entry into the Nevada race is widely welcomed by Republicans nationwide as the GOP gears up to gain control of the Senate, now led 51-49 by Democrats. In 2024, 34 of the chamber’s 100 seats are on the ballot, including 23 held by Democrats and three Independents who caucus with them.

While only one of 11 seats now held by Republicans—Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)—is projected to face a challenging reelection, competitive battles are expected for nine of the remaining 23 Senate seats.

Ms. Rosen, who is seeking a second term after defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Dean Heller by 5 percentage points in 2018, is considered to be among those nine most vulnerable incumbents.

President Joe Biden carried Nevada by about 2 percentage points in the 2022 midterms that saw Ms. Cortez Masto and all four of the state’s incumbent House representatives, including three Las Vegas area Democrats, reelected while Republican Joe Lombardo was elected governor.

Nevada is among the first presidential primary states, with the preliminary inter-party nomination for president set for Feb. 6. The primary for the remainder of the electoral slate is June 11, 2024, with March 15 the deadline for candidates to file.

It is unlikely Ms. Rosen will be challenged in a primary and certain that she will be well-financed. Her campaign reported collecting $2.7 million during the April-June 2023 second quarter Federal Elections Commission (FEC) filing period and had $7.5 million in cash on hand at the start of that quarter.

With his July 10 announcement, Mr. Brown’s Duty First PAC won’t need to file an FEC report until October. Mr. Marchant’s campaign’s second-quarter report, due no later than July 15, had not been posted by the FEC as of July 10.

Mr. Brown, who moved to Nevada in 2018 from Texas where he lost his only previous political campaign, a 2014 state legislator race, can essentially brush off his 2022 Senate campaign platform in touting support for conservative policies, including opposition to abortion access and advocating for more election integrity.

A Purple Heart recipient who sustained critical injuries in a 2008 explosion in Afghanistan that left his face severely burned, Mr. Brown is expected to tout his experience as a mission-oriented combat leader and that career politicians in Washington—such as Ms. Rosen—are “out of touch” with real Americans.

Jim Marchant, Republican candidate for US Senate, speaks with supporters at a rally for Nevada Republican gubernatorial candidate, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo at the local Republican Party offices in Henderson, Nevada, on Nov. 6, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Who Gets Trump’s Nod?

Mr. Brown’s most notable challenger in the GOP primary at this point is tech company founder Mr. Marchant, who served two terms in the Nevada Assembly before being defeated in his 2022 bid to be Nevada secretary of state, and in his 2020 Congressional campaign against Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.).

Mr. Marchant declared he was running for Ms. Rosen’s seat during a May 2 “Make America Great Rally,” vowing to stand for the Second Amendment, eliminate critical race theory, do away with “gender ideology,” and fight the “deep state” that conspired to “sabotage the Trump agenda.”

“I know the people of this state,” he said in his campaign announcement. “From the miners, the ranchers, to the restaurant servers and the tireless workers on the Strip; from the police officers, to the nurses and doctors.”

An election integrity advocate with grassroots support, Mr. Marchant has steadfastly supported former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims and continues to insist his defeat to Mr. Horsford in that same election was fraudulent.

During his 2022 secretary of state election, Mr. Marchant founded the America First Secretary Coalition and ran on a platform to reform Nevada’s election system by banning mail-in ballots and mandating voter ID, among other changes.

Despite being endorsed by Mr. Trump, he was easily defeated by Democrat Cisco Aguilar in November’s general election.

Mr. Marchant was in Mr. Trump’s orbit last weekend, attending the former’s president’s 40-minute campaign address at Fervent Calvary Chapel in North Las Vegas on July 8.

“We have a big job to do. This has been a hard state. I really believe it’s a Republican state,” Mr. Trump told the crowd gathered inside the small church for a Republican campaign volunteer drive. “This is the most important election in the history of our country.”

Mr. Marchant’s campaign shared a post alerting viewers that he was interviewed by the Right Side Broadcasting Network at the chapel while traveling with Trump.

Ms. Kennedy was also highlighting her Trump World connections, recounting on her campaign website, and in a July 9 Twitter post, that she “had a great dinner with my friend Rodger (sp) Stone,” a longtime friend and advisor and friend of the former president who was in Law Vegas with the Trump entourage.

Who will garner Mr. Trump’s endorsement in the Nevada 2024 GOP Senate primary is uncertain—as is the value of the former president’s nod in purple Nevada: the only Trump-endorsed candidate to win in November 2022 was Lombardo, who defeated incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Mr. Marchant’s association with Mr. Trump was duty noted by the Nevada Democratic Party and by Ms. Rosen, who called on voters to reject the “MAGA election denier.”

“While far-right candidates like Jim Marchant spread baseless conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy, I’ve always focused on bringing both sides together to solve problems and stand up for hardworking Nevadans,” Ms. Rosen said.

In anticipation of Mr. Brown joining the race, the Nevada Democratic Party is hoping to obscure any difference between him and Mr. Marchant.

“Between [Senate GOP Leader] Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked candidate Sam Brown, MAGA election denier Jim Marchant, and a host of other far-right candidates eyeing a Senate run, Republicans are in for a messy primary that will expose their deeply flawed candidates as out of touch with hardworking Nevadans,” Nevada Democratic Party spokesperson Johanna Warshaw said.

In a statement on the state party’s website, she called on voters to demand that Mr. Brown clarify his views on the former president.

“Sam Brown can only avoid the Trump-shaped elephant in the room for so long,” Ms. Warshaw said. “Will he join Jim Marchant in backing Donald Trump and his toxic brand of MAGA politics, or will he risk alienating the Republican voters who will decide their primary?”