A pivotal Nevada Senate race is unusually quiet for the battleground state

LAS VEGAS– In a presidential swing state where elections are typically closely contested, the battle for the U.S. Senate in Nevada has been unusually sleepy.

Democratic senators are involved in the campaign. Jackie Rosen – a former computer programmer and synagogue president – ​​against the Republican Sam Browna retired army captain whose face is still scarred from the wounds he suffered in Afghanistan. Both parties agree that the state is in the midst of a tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, but the Senate race has attracted little attention, although Rosen has emerged as the favorite.

First-term Rosen has defeated Brown more than 3-1 in the race, positioning herself as a non-ideological senator who delivers for her home state on issues such as broadband internet access and high-speed rail service to Southern California. Brown, a recipient of the Purple Heart, has campaigned on his biography and the state’s cost-of-living crisis, which is especially acute in Nevada’s working class. He has struggled to gain traction, although some last-minute funding came from the Republican Party in late October when Republicans, cheered by strong turnout for their party in early voting, hoped Brown would exceed expectations in the race can overturn.

“He hasn’t really made an argument for why we should get rid of Rosen, and Rosen has positioned himself very well as the prototypical Nevada senator,” said David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada. Vegas.

Damore added that since Nevada became a state in 1864, only five of its incumbent senators have lost their re-election bid. Most have acted like Rosen and positioned themselves as nonpartisan leaders who deliver results for the state.

“There is a history of longtime, moderate senators dominating Nevada politics,” Damore said.

Rosen won in 2018 when the former senator who filled that role, Republican Sen. Dean Heller, moved sharply to the right in response to attacks from Trump for not sufficiently supporting the then-president. The state’s other senator, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, narrowly won reelection in 2022 with a similarly centrist, low-profile campaign against a Trump-backed candidate.

Trump endorsed Brown in the state’s primaries, but his political career predates Trump. Brown tried to run for a Texas state House seat in 2014 before moving to Nevada in 2018 and unsuccessfully running in the 2022 Republican primary to challenge Cortez Masto.

Brown was seriously injured by an improvised explosive device during a Taliban ambush of his unit in southern Afghanistan in 2008. He left the military in 2011 after 30 surgeries and years of recovery and founded a company to help veterans get medical care. Brown’s face remains severely scarred and takes center stage in his campaign ads.

“As a U.S. Senator, I will proudly stand with Donald Trump to make America affordable, safe and strong again,” Brown said at the Republican National Convention this summer.

Rosen has hammered Brown on his position on abortion and said he would vote for a national ban if sent to Washington, DC.

Abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy is protected in Nevada by a 1990 state law. This year, a measure will be voted on to enshrine the right to abortion until viability – that is, after 21 weeks – in the state constitution. If it succeeds, it should succeed again in 2026.

Brown describes himself as “pro-life” and claims he never completed a 2022 questionnaire stating he opposes exceptions for rape, incest and maternal health. Brown and his wife Amy sat down for a joint interview with NBC News earlier this year, during which they detailed an abortion she had before the two met.

Meanwhile, Rosen kicked off her reelection bid earlier this year with an ad in which she says, “Six years ago, I promised to do what’s right for Nevada, not my party leaders.”

Republicans must win two Senate seats to gain a majority in the House, so every seat counts in this election. But the Republican Party is already well positioned in West Virginia, where they have an open seat in a state that Trump won overwhelmingly. The Republican Party is confident in its chances of ousting Democrats in two other red states, Montana and Ohio. So the party has not invested heavily in Nevada.

The Senate race isn’t the only disappointing race in Nevada. The state has three Democratic seats in the House of Representatives that could be competitive, but Republicans are a significant underdog in all cases.

“They have done a terrible recruiting job,” Damore said of the state Republican Party, which has been taken over by hardline pro-Trump activists.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who has represented Nevada’s 1st Congressional District for more than a decade, is once again facing a challenge from retired Army Col. Mark Robertson. Titus defeated Robertson in 2022 by almost 6 percentage points. Her district is reliably blue, covering Las Vegas and parts of the city’s suburbs, Henderson and Boulder City.

In the 3rd Congressional District, widely considered the state’s most competitive district, Democratic U.S. Rep. Susie Lee is trying to defend her seat against Drew Johnsona conservative policy analyst. The district includes much of Las Vegas’ culturally diverse Spring Valley neighborhood, as well as more rural areas in Clark County, the state’s most populous.

Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, wants to keep his seat in Nevada’s sprawling 4th Congressional District, which includes downtown Las Vegas and deep-red rural counties including Nye, Mineral and Esmeralda. He faces a challenge from former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, who is now a Republican after switching parties and running an unsuccessful 2022 primary campaign for governor.