Senate GOP lands a top recruit in Nevada

Sam Brown, a decorated Army veteran who lost the GOP primary for a Nevada Senate seat last year, is launching another run for Senate — this time with the support of Republican leadership.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, endorsed Brown as he announced a bid on Monday to oust Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen. It’s the latest example of Daines’ willingness to wade into primaries after a disappointing midterm cycle where his party failed to reclaim the majority.

“Sam Brown’s life of service and sacrifice is an inspiration to all Americans,” Daines said in a statement to POLITICO. “I am very pleased that Sam is stepping up to run for the U.S. Senate.”

Brown lost last year’s GOP primary by 22 points to former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Laxalt went on to narrowly fall in the general election to incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. This time, Brown will again face a primary battle; Jim Marchant, a former Nevada state lawmaker who lost a 2022 bid for Nevada secretary of state, entered the Senate race earlier this year.

An Army veteran with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, Brown was struck by a roadside bomb while deployed in Afghanistan, leaving him with burns on 30 percent of his body and visible scarring. He moved to Reno, Nevada in 2018 and started a business with his wife providing medication to veterans.

In a statement announcing his run, Brown suggested he would run as a pragmatist while stressing military experience.

“In the military, no one asks you what party you are in,” he said. “They just want to know they can count on you to get the job done. That’s the attitude we need to tackle the problems of today.”

Daines’ endorsement is a sign to top Senate donors that they should direct their resources to Brown ahead of what could be a messy primary. Marchant is among a prominent group of Trump supporters who baselessly denied the validity of the 2020 election. He received an endorsement from Trump in his run for secretary of state and has already endorsed Trump’s third run for president.

Besides Marchant, Jeffrey Gunter, a former ambassador to Iceland, is mulling a primary bid. His tenure in Reykjavik was marred by high turnover and a report from the Office of the Inspector General that found that he fostered a “threatening and intimidating environment.”

This marks the fourth time Daines has picked favorites in a Senate primary. In Montana, he endorsed Navy veteran Tim Sheehy in a race Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale is expected to enter. In West Virginia, he tapped Gov. Jim Justice over Republican Rep. Alex Mooney. Both states are crucial to the GOP’s path back to the Senate majority.

Landing top recruits in states like Nevada will give Republicans more room for error next fall. They need to flip only one seat to win the Senate if a Republican also wins the White House.

Daines’ predecessor at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), declined to intervene in primaries and saw some recruits lose key races. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed their struggles on “candidate quality” issues. Daines reversed Scott’s hands-off policy when he took over at the committee.

But competitive primaries are still brewing. In Nevada, part of Brown’s allure to Republican leaders is his fundraising ability. He brought in $4.3 million during his campaign against Laxalt.

But in 2022, Brown fielded attacks over a 2014 run he made for the Texas Legislature — something Marchant could also use to cast Brown as an out-of-stater.

Rosen announced her reelection bid in April with a video underscoring the significance of her state, which now-President Joe Biden carried by just over 2 points in 2020.

“Nevada is always a battleground and this Senate race will be one of the toughest in the country,” Rosen said in the video. “What happens in Nevada in 2024 could once again decide control of the Senate.”