EXCLUSIVE: Afghanistan war veteran Sam Brown will officially launch a second bid for the U.S. Senate on Monday, this time to unseat Nevada’s other vulnerable Democrat senator, Jacky Rosen.
Fox News Digital spoke with Brown, a Republican, ahead of his planned announcement at an event in Reno, Nevada, where he will lay out his vision on how to take the country in a different direction from where he says it’s headed under the leadership of politicians like Rosen and President Biden.
“This bid for the Senate is really rooted in the fact that Nevadans are worried about losing the American dream and what our kids are going to inherit,” Brown said when asked why he decided to toss his hat into the ring once again.
“People are hurting. Inflation is high, the economy is as unstable and people want a leader and a champion for them in D.C., and that’s me,” he said.
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Brown is a retired Army captain and a Purple Heart recipient who sustained serious injuries from an IED explosion during a 2008 deployment in Afghanistan, which left his face severely burned.
The Army veteran was a first-time Senate candidate in 2022 as he sought to oust Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, but he came in second to former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt in Nevada’s GOP primary. He lost by 22 points to Laxalt, who had the backing of former President Donald Trump and the Senate Leadership Fund.
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This time, Brown is backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and is so far seen as the front-runner for the nomination and a potential shot at Rosen, who is seeking a second term.
“Sam Brown’s life of service and sacrifice is an inspiration to all Americans. I am very pleased that Sam is stepping up to run for the U.S. Senate,” NRSC chair Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said in a statement.
Despite the support, and the likely access to improved fundraising from his previous campaign, Brown says “what’s most important is gaining the trust and support of Nevadans” and that his campaign is “laser-focused” on growing his grassroots network.
“Under Jacky Rosen, we’ve seen massive inflation that’s led to higher food and gas prices; the state unemployment rate rise to the worst in the nation; and crime take over our streets. Everyday Nevadans are frustrated and disappointed in our do-nothing senator, and they’re looking for someone to step up and solve these problems for all Nevadans,” he argued.
Brown went on to call Rosen “extreme” and “out of touch” and a “huge disappointment.”
“Specifically, she’s out of touch when it comes to economic policy, which is making it harder for business owners and jobs. She’s extremely out of touch on what the benefits of an American energy independence-focused policy would deliver for Americans. And she’s also extreme on education,” he charged, referencing what he said was her support for the teaching of critical race theory in schools.
Brown also touted his years in the military as experience that taught him how to prioritize people and a mission over himself. He said that politicians in Washington, D.C., have lost touch with that principle and that his mission, if elected, would be to represent the people and “help them to realize a successful life and to achieve the American dream.”
“When I was in a combat environment, nobody cared what sort of political party you were affiliated with or how you grew up. They just cared that you were going to get the job done and that everyone would be able to accomplish the mission,” he said.
“Something I bring is leadership and being focused on the mission and the people. That’s what I’ve been trained to do and that’s what I’ve done,” he added.
Brown will be the fourth candidate to enter the Republican field, which includes former state Assemblyman Jim Marchant, civil rights attorney Ronda Kennedy and real estate broker Stephanie Phillips.
“Between Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked candidate Sam Brown, MAGA election denier Jim Marchant, and a host of other far-right candidates eyeing a Senate run, Republicans are in for a messy primary that will expose their deeply flawed candidates as out of touch with hardworking Nevadans,” Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Johanna Warshaw argued in a statement.
The Nevada Senate seat currently held by Rosen is considered a top target for Republicans in 2024, similar to 2022, as the party looks to capitalize on President Biden’s unpopularity across the country. Cortez Masto won reelection with 49% of the vote and by a margin of less than 8,000 votes over Laxalt.
Laxalt, a longtime friend and ally of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is currently helping to lead Never Back Down, a super PAC that’s backing the Florida governor’s 2024 presidential bid. He’s indicated he won’t make another Senate run next year.
Democrats currently hold a 51-49 majority in the chamber, which includes three independent senators who caucus with the Democratic conference.
But the math and the map favor the GOP in 2024. Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs, including three in red states and a handful in key general election battlegrounds.
However, Republicans, stung by an expected red wave that ended up being a trickle in last year’s midterms, are trying to avoid a replay of their 2022 recruitment battles, when a handful of Senate nominees handpicked by Trump and supportive of the former president’s repeated re-litigating of his 2020 election loss, stumbled in the general election and arguably cost the GOP the chamber’s majority.
Rosen won’t be easy to defeat in the crucial western battleground state. The former one-term congresswoman who was elected to the Senate in 2018 hauled in $2.7 million during the April-June second quarter of 2023 fundraising and had $7.5 million in her campaign coffers as of the start of April, her campaign reported on Monday.