Sam Brown wins Nevada GOP Senate primary

Sam Brown on the campaign trail in 2022. (Photo by Josh Edelson/Getty Images)

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Republican Sam Brown will take on Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen this November.

The Associated Press called Nevada’s GOP Senate primary for Brown at 8:11 p.m. Tuesday.

The GOP Senate primary had a dozen candidates, but Brown was considered the frontrunner early after securing support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Jeff Gunter, the former Trump ambassador to Iceland, who appeared to have the best chance of upsetting Brown, was in a distant second place, early results showed. Other failed contenders for the GOP nomination included virulent election denier Jim Marchant and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Tony Grady.

President Donald Trump was late to weigh in on the race, endorsing Brown via a social media post late Sunday and curiously not during a political rally the presumptive presidential nominee held in Las Vegas earlier that day. Gunter did not take the Brown endorsement well.

The Nevada Senate race between Rosen and Brown is expected to figure largely in determining which party will control the Senate.

Brown in a victory speech to supporters in Reno said his campaign was about accountability, leadership and hope.

“The American Dream is not dead,” he said, “and the American nightmare under Joe Biden and Jacky Rosen begins to end tonight.”

NRSC Chair Steve Daines in a statement congratulated the retired Army captain: “A graduate of West Point, Sam is an American hero who is once again answering the call to serve our country. Sam’s support for securing our border and getting inflation under control stands in strong contrast to his opponent’s record of rubber-stamping Joe Biden’s disastrous policies.”

Rosen, who easily won her noncompetitive Democratic primary, called Brown a “a MAGA extremist who will say anything to get elected.”

“Voters will have a clear choice in this race between a senator who always puts Nevadans first and a politician who only moved here a few years ago just to run for office,” she said in a statement. “I’ll stand up to anyone to get things done for our state, but Brown will always put partisan politics and corporate special interests ahead of doing what’s right for Nevada.”

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