Democrat Jacky Rosen has defended her Senate seat in Nevada, a win in a tight race that was considered critical for Democrats hoping to head off further Republican gains.
Rosen defeated Sam Brown, a decorated former Army captain who was initially seen as a top recruit for Republicans. Brown, who earned a Purple Heart after being injured by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, had major Republican endorsements, including from Donald Trump.
Rosen, a former computer programmer and House lawmaker handpicked by Nevada kingmaker Harry Reid to run for Senate in 2018, consistently polled ahead of Brown, though the race tightened significantly by Election Day. The Associated Press called the race a little after midnight on Saturday.
Nevada’s nearly even partisan split and the state’s rightward shift in recent election cycles made the Senate race one of the most closely watched in the country — particularly as the presidential contest looked more and more like a toss-up. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent time courting the Latino vote in the state, and Rosen joined Harris for a rally in Las Vegas in August. The AP also called the state for Trump on Saturday.
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Rosen’s campaign touted both her bipartisan accomplishments and ability to occasionally break with Democratic leadership while simultaneously invoking key issues such as abortion.
Brown attempted to perform a balancing act similar to Rosen’s, promoting himself as a moderate conservative on some issues while also emphasizing his connections to Trump. He described himself as “pro-life, with exceptions” and said he would focus on issues affecting veterans and immigration.
Brown’s shift on abortion included a headline-grabbing NBC interview where his wife revealed she had once had an abortion. But, as NOTUS reported, some operatives in the state found that the decision backfired politically for Brown, with voters seeing him as hypocritical.
It likely helped Rosen that a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion was also on the ballot in Nevada, where 62% of adults say abortion should remain legal in all or most cases.
Brown’s campaign also attempted to connect Rosen to rising prices and economic uncertainty in Nevada, where the tourism-driven economy has rebounded slowly from the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other states.
Ultimately, though, Brown struggled as a relatively unknown candidate compared to Rosen, whose incumbency meant she was already familiar to Nevadans. Rosen’s campaign also significantly outraised and outspent Brown’s, with Rosen reporting nearly $12.1 million in donations in the third quarter, approaching record-breaking levels of fundraising for the state.
In the second quarter, Rosen raised nearly $3.6 million more than Brown and broke Nevada fundraising records for that quarter by raising $7.6 million.
Brown’s late gains in the polls worried Democrats who saw Nevada’s Senate race as a crucial indicator for Democrats’ chances to reelect Senate incumbents in other states.
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Margaret Manto is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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