Republican Sam Brown announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate at a rally in Sparks on July 10, 2023.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
SPARKS — Sam Brown, who ran an unsuccessful grassroots campaign two years ago, is returning to the Nevada political scene by relying on his sense of community and military values to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen.
Brown, who lives in Reno, announced his candidacy Monday before several hundred supporters at a rally at Bragg Crane Service in Sparks. The Army veteran and businessman joins election conspiracy candidate Jim Marchant in the Republican primary to see who faces the first-term senator. Rosen upset Republican Sen. Dean Heller in 2018.
Brown lost the 2022 U.S. Senate Republican primary to Adam Laxalt, who then went on to lose to incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
During his time at the microphone Monday, Brown railed against Rosen and the Democrat Senate majority, but he never mentioned Marchant.
A 2006 U.S. Military Academy graduate, Brown said his sense of duty, honor and country is defining. Brown and his wife, Amy, told supporters about his resolve, especially after a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Afghanistan in September 2008.
Brown was serving with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division at Kandahar. He said the roadside bomb altered his path in life and service. He said the words of a fellow soldier who saved his live have resonated with Brown since the incident 17 years ago.
“Sir, I got you,” Brown recalled.
Amy, at the time an Army lieutenant and dietician at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, was a member of the medical team that treated Brown. He suffered third degree burns over a third of his body, which was not protected with body armor. Brown endured numerous surgeries.
Brown first asked Amy on a date to a rodeo on Valentine’s Day, and eventually they married. Their three children attended Monday’s announcement.
Although he grew up in Arkansas, Brown said he and his family have embraced the Silver State and its values.
“It’s the people who make this state special,” he said. “We believe in smaller government and fewer regulations.”
Brown said he also supports business opportunities and the sacrifices to be successful.
“She is out of touch with reality,” Brown said, adding it’s time for new leadership to represent Nevada and not the interests in the nation’s capital.
Brown checked off a list of complaints he has against Rosen. He said he believes in the rule of law and will support those men and women who wear the uniform to keep people safe. He said Rosen is for government that will tell its citizens what to do.
“I believe in personal responsibility and individual liberties,” Brown said.
Brown said inflation is hurting American families and the ability to own a home is slipping away.
“They don’t understand us, they don’t know us and certainly they don’t represent us,” he said.
Shifting his comments to education, Brown said parents need more input into their children’s curriculum. The candidate drew applause and chants of “Sam” when he said children need to know their ABCs, not CRTs (Critical Race Theory).
Brown ticked off more differences between Rosen and him, ranging from public safety to energy. He believes more electrical power being produced by geothermal plants should remain in Nevada. Nevada is one of the top geothermal-producing states, and Churchill County is one of the leading geothermal-producing counties.
“The American dream and things we value are disappearing,” he said.
Brown said it will be a difficult path to beat Rosen, but he added no mission is too difficult, no sacrifice too great to unseat her. On the same day of his announcement for the Senate, the Rosen team revealed it hauled in $2.7 million for the second quarter to add to the $7.5 million on hand.
After his remarks to his supporters, Brown met with the media. He was asked several times about comments he made about election security during and after the 2020 presidential election. He skirted his comments about any election irregularities and said elections security is a concern.
After the election, though, Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske — a Republican — said her office found no widespread voter fraud, as did state courts that dealt with various charges presented by the Trump campaign.
Brown, though, said Monday it’s important for the electorate to have faith in the election system. He said he’s looking ahead, not backward, to campaigning for the U.S. Senate against Rosen.
Brown was asked about Ukraine. He said the Biden administration hasn’t defined what constitutes victory or mission success.
“The Senate’s job is to hold the commander-in-chief accountable,” he said.
At the end of the rally as supporters filed out of the Bragg Crane Service building, Carson City Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill said he’s excited for Brown.
“He will be a great senator for Nevada,” O’Neill said. “He has all the great attributes. You heard him speak about the issues that are important. The economy is important, education is important to this state. Public safety is important.”