Nevada Senate opponents portray each other as extremists, but only in the Rosen-Brown debate are there few fireworks

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and his Republican challenger Sam Brown on Thursday night called each other extremists in the battleground presidential state where the Nov. 5 election will determine control of the White House and Senate could decide.

The election pits Rosen, a first-term senator who is seen as a political consensus builder, against Brown, a retired Army captain who bears scars from battlefield injuries and is endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

In her only in-person debate before early voting began Saturday, Brown repeatedly sided with Trump on domestic and foreign policy issues, calling Rosen a political insider and an “elitist” and highlighting her stance on immigration reform.

“This is again what you would expect from a D.C. elite whose own neighborhood, with a gate and security guards, offers more security than our border,” Brown said.

Rosen defended her support for President Joe Biden’s policies aimed at curbing inflation and making housing more affordable, as well as her efforts to work with Republicans on the other side of the ballot.

“My opponent is so stubborn and so extreme that he often uses the words ‘non-negotiable’ and ‘no middle ground,'” she said. “I am one of the most bipartisan, independent and bipartisan senators today.”

KLAS-TV’s hour-long performance in Las Vegas was broadcast live in both English and Spanish. Abortion, inflation and immigration are among the top issues and voters have been flooded with ads for both candidates.

Brown pledged to secure the U.S. border during a campaign rally last Friday in Reno; make housing more affordable; lower prices for food, fuel and medicine; end taxes on tips; and eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits.

Rosen argues that her challenger is out of touch with residents of Nevada, where nonpartisan and other voters make up nearly 40% of the statewide electorate of 2.4 million. The majority of voters vote Republican in rural areas and Democratic in the two most populous and urban areas: Las Vegas and Reno.

Records show Rosen has a 3-1 lead in fundraising and spending and is ahead in voter polls. Several elected Republicans have said they intend to break with the GOP and vote for Rosen, including the mayors of Sparks, near Reno, and Ely in rural eastern Nevada.

Rosen has a hometown advantage in and around Las Vegas, where she has lived for more than 40 years. She was a computer programmer and president of a prominent synagogue in suburban Henderson before being elected as a congresswoman in 2016, defeating an incumbent Republican to win the Senate in 2018.

Brown was seriously wounded while serving in Afghanistan in 2008 and spent years recovering before leaving the Army in 2011. He founded a company that helped veterans with medical care and ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Texas Statehouse in 2014 before moving to Nevada in 2018. He lost a 2022 GOP primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

Abortion is a key issue in Nevada. Voters are facing a ballot initiative that aims to enshrine in the state constitution a 1990 law legalizing abortion for up to 24 weeks. Democrats across the country have made abortion rights a central message since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade repealed the 1973 legislation that established nationwide abortion rights.

Brown describes himself as a “pro-lifer” and Rosen has said he would vote for a nationwide abortion ban if sent to Washington, DC. Brown and his wife, Amy, told NBC News earlier this year that she had an abortion before the two met, and his website says that as a senator, Brown would not vote to overturn the Nevadans’ decision.

Brown has sought to blame Rosen for the Biden administration’s economic policies, which Republicans say have led to high inflation as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

Rosen released a new ad this week promoting lowering prescription drug costs, ending price gouging by grocery chains and lowering housing costs.

Brown has a close connection to Trump, who contested his narrow presidential election loss to Biden in Nevada in 2020. The state’s top election official, a Republican, was later censured by the state’s GOP for certifying that vote counting had not been marred by widespread fraud.

Early voting in Nevada begins Saturday.

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Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed from Reno, Nevada

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