Jacky Rosen Holds Off Sam Brown in Nevada, Keeping a Democratic Senate Seat

by · NY Times

Jacky Rosen Holds Off Sam Brown in Nevada, Keeping a Democratic Senate Seat

Ms. Rosen, the low-key incumbent, hung on, but the race was closer than expected amid President-elect Donald J. Trump’s strength.

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Senator Jacky Rosen during a campaign stop in Gardnerville, Nev., in August.
Credit...Emily Najera for The New York Times

By Kellen Browning

Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, will hang on to her Nevada Senate seat, according to The Associated Press, narrowly defeating her Republican opponent, Sam Brown.

For both parties, it was an unexpected nail-biter. Ms. Rosen’s victory, while a bright spot for Democrats in an otherwise grim Election Day outcome, highlighted broad rightward shifts in her state and around the country.

Several of her fellow Democratic incumbents, like Senator Jon Tester of Montana, were ousted; Ms. Rosen will head back to Washington for her second term now in the minority. President-elect Donald J. Trump has won all six of the presidential battlegrounds that have so far been called — including Nevada, which went red for the first time since 2004 — while flashing strength in traditionally blue strongholds.

“Thank you, Nevada!” Ms. Rosen posted on X after the race was called. “I’m honored and grateful to continue serving as your United States Senator.”

In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Brown said: “This is not a conclusion, but the beginning of a renewed fight for our values and our nation’s greatness. Thank you for believing in this vision for Nevada and for America. I’ve got you, always.”

Ms. Rosen, a former computer programmer and synagogue president, was seen as vulnerable, given Nevada’s swing state status. A political newcomer when she was asked by Senator Harry M. Reid, the influential Democrat who died in 2021, to run for office, Ms. Rosen cut a low profile as she cultivated a bipartisan, pragmatic image. That made it difficult for opponents to attack her, but also presented a challenge to Ms. Rosen’s efforts to define herself apart from a deeply unpopular Biden administration, especially to an electorate that is more transient than that of other states.

Republicans thought that made Ms. Rosen’s seat attainable as they worked to tie her to President Biden, and later to Vice President Kamala Harris. Lacking a deep bench of experienced politicians in Nevada, they turned to Mr. Brown, who has never held elected office but had a captivating personal narrative. He was nearly killed in Afghanistan in 2008 when his vehicle ran over a roadside bomb, and was left permanently scarred after undergoing more than 30 surgeries during a three-year recovery.

Mr. Brown lapped the rest of the Republican field in the primary, but he quickly fell behind against Ms. Rosen, who was better-funded. She bombarded him on the airwaves with advertisements highlighting his past comments opposing abortion, an issue on which he tried to moderate.

Mr. Brown, a relative newcomer to Nevada, struggled to gain traction and raise his profile, and surveys showed him trailing, sometimes by significant margins, throughout the fall. A televised debate in mid-October did little to change the trajectory of the race.

Still, Republicans had hoped that the presidential race would help Mr. Brown — and it did. Mr. Trump was competitive against Ms. Harris in polls there, and he gained momentum among Latino voters this year. The state’s tourist-driven economy recovered more slowly than most from the doldrums of the coronavirus pandemic, and Mr. Brown’s campaign suggested Ms. Rosen was to blame.

Ultimately, it was not enough. Democrats have long had an established ground game advantage in Nevada, fueled by prominent labor groups like the Culinary Workers Union, and Ms. Rosen was able to secure a tight victory.

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