Nevada 2024 Senate race has Sen. Jacky Rosen facing reelection challenge from Sam Brown
Sen. Jacky Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown are facing off in Nevada, as Democrats fight to hold onto the seat and their narrow majority in the Senate.
Polls showed Rosen leading in the race, her first reelection bid, as Election Day approached. But the state has historically posed polling difficulties, and was home to the closest Senate race in the country in 2022.
Republicans haven't won a Senate race in the Silver State since 2012, but they flipped the governor's mansion in the last election, which suggested that the Senate seat could be in play in 2024.
Brown is a West Point graduate and combat veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart for his service in Afghanistan, where a roadside bomb explosion left him with third-degree burns. He went on to become a small business owner, and has campaigned on border security and economic issues. Republicans poured money into advertising in the state in the final weeks of the campaign seeking to boost Brown amid heavy Democratic investment in advertising — especially on abortion.
Democrats hammered Brown over abortion throughout the campaign, as the issue has galvanized voters nationwide since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion is also on the ballot this year in Nevada, with a measure that would enshrine abortion as an individual right in the state constitution.
Outside of abortion, economic issues have also been especially salient in Nevada this cycle. With an economy largely based around tourism and hospitality surrounding Las Vegas, Nevada is home to a significant working class population. The state's economy was among the most impacted by pandemic closures in 2020, leading to a much slower recovery than in other states, and spurring frustration with Democrat-led policies. Brown seized on the issue during the campaign, along with immigration — two issues on which Republicans have been taking aim at the Biden-Harris administration's policies.
Still, for Rosen — a 67-year-old former computer programmer and synagogue president — the race appeared to swing in her favor after Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her presidential campaign. While President Biden had struggled to garner support in the state, Harris' entrance seemed to shrink the margin by which Democrats had to overperform the top of the ticket. That dynamic was especially pronounced in Nevada, the Cook Political Report noted in an analysis, changing its rating from a toss-up to lean Democrat in August.